Wenger backs Arsenal to win Champions League final against PSG in Budapest

Arsene Wenger has backed Arsenal to beat Paris Saint-Germain in Saturday’s Champions League final in Budapest, declaring that ‘the time has come’ for his former club to win European football’s biggest prize.

Wenger, who managed Arsenal for 22 years and is now FIFA’s head of global development, said he would tip the Gunners over PSG if forced to choose. ‘I still believe it’s fifty-fifty in the final, and if I had to bet, I would bet on Arsenal more than on Paris Saint-Germain,’ he told UEFA.

The Frenchman framed the occasion in the context of Arsenal’s broader European history — one he helped shape. ‘When I arrived at Arsenal, the club had very little Champions League history,’ he said. ‘Then we had 20 consecutive years of qualification, and now the crown of that history would be to become champions.’

Wenger came agonisingly close to delivering the trophy himself. Arsenal reached the 2006 final in Paris but, reduced to ten men after Jens Lehmann’s early dismissal, led through Sol Campbell’s header before a Henrik Larsson cameo turned the game for Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona. Goals from Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti sealed a defeat that has haunted the club ever since.

‘We touched it before — we were thirteen minutes away from winning it — so you want it to happen this time,’ Wenger said. ‘I want this trophy to go to the Emirates because it’s missing there.’

He was emphatic that Arsenal’s current form under Mikel Arteta justifies the belief. ‘I feel the club deserves it, this season deserves it and the consistency of the team deserves it,’ he said. ‘I think Arsenal have slowly built a history that now allows them to win it.’

Arteta’s side, Premier League winners this season, face Luis Enrique’s PSG, the reigning Champions League holders, in what Wenger acknowledges will be a closely contested final.