Arsenal lost their only Champions League final in 2006. Twenty years on, they have another chance – and history suggests the second time around can be the right time.

Arsenal’s 2-1 aggregate victory over Atletico Madrid has given Mikel Arteta’s side a second shot at the biggest prize in European club football.

They lost their first final to Barcelona in Paris twenty years ago. Now they travel to Budapest with a chance to rewrite history. They would not be the first club to do it.

Ajax

Ajax were beaten by AC Milan in 1969 in their maiden final appearance. Two years later, they returned and began one of the great European dynasties, winning three consecutive titles between 1971 and 1973. From heartbreak to dominance in the space of two years.

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Juventus

Juventus suffered a longer wait. They lost their first final to Ajax in 1973 before eventually lifting the trophy twelve years later in 1985, then again in 1996. Patient, persistent, and ultimately rewarded.

Chelsea

Chelsea lost to Manchester United on penalties in Moscow in 2008. Four years later, in one of the most dramatic finals in the competition’s history, they beat Bayern Munich on penalties in the Germans’ own stadium. A first European title, built on the memory of a previous failure.

Manchester City

Manchester City lost their maiden final to Chelsea in 2021. Two years on, Rodri’s second-half strike against Inter Milan in Istanbul gave them the trophy they had long chased.

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Paris Saint-Germain

PSG’s journey was the most recent. Beaten by Bayern Munich in Lisbon in 2020, they returned five years later to lift the trophy in Munich, defeating Inter Milan 5-0. The most emphatic of vindications.

Five clubs. Five defeats in their first final. All five eventually champions.

Arsenal know the pain of that Paris night in 2006. In Budapest, they have the chance to make sure it was not the end of the story – just the beginning of it.

Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach