Arsenal and PSG's Champions League final reunion shadowed by last year's ticket row

Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain face each other in the Champions League final at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday — a rematch that carries the residue of a fractious ticket dispute from their semi-final meeting just twelve months ago.

Ahead of last season’s first-leg semi-final at the Emirates, Arsenal confirmed they would allocate PSG only 2,500 away tickets rather than the customary 3,000. The decision caught the French club off guard, particularly because PSG had received the standard allocation for their league-phase fixture at the same ground earlier in October. Arsenal cited security concerns and said the reduction came at the request of local authorities, with the London Marathon — held 48 hours before the match — among the factors raised.

UEFA regulations require clubs to allocate five per cent of a stadium’s capacity to visiting supporters; 2,500 tickets represented closer to four per cent of the Emirates’ capacity. PSG were not satisfied. After a request for 500 additional tickets was rejected by Arsenal, the Parisians lodged a formal complaint with UEFA.

In a statement, PSG said: “PSG does not find this decision very fair play and has referred the matter to UEFA to try to obtain the quota of 3,000 tickets that are due to it according to UEFA regulations. The club could also explore other avenues of appeal between now and Tuesday if necessary.”

The dispute did not end there. When Arsenal travelled to Paris for the second leg, they received just 2,000 tickets — 500 below UEFA’s five per cent threshold. PSG had been granted special dispensation to reduce their away allocation to 4.1 per cent at the request of local police before the season began.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust publicly criticised PSG’s ticketing policy. “It’s not fair that every club that plays a Champions League game in Paris has less tickets for their supporters,” AST board member Tim Payton said. “We don’t expect it will make much difference for next week’s second leg but the new format means that English clubs are going to be playing PSG more regularly over the next few years so something needs to change.”

On the pitch, PSG won both legs — 1-0 at the Emirates and 2-1 in Paris — before going on to claim their first ever Champions League title, thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final. Saturday’s showpiece in Budapest is Arsenal’s first Champions League final since 2006, giving Mikel Arteta’s side the chance to go one better than their predecessors and settle more than one score with the French champions.