‘It was horrible… I’d bought tickets for all my family, everyone was there’: ROBERT PIRES reveals his pain 20 years on from Champions League final loss, why Mikel Arteta’s side have the Invincibles’ ‘DNA’ and the key to toppling PSG

The scars of Arsenal’s only previous European Cup final still haunt Robert Pires 20 years on.

They are wounds which have never fully healed. The Gunners were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona at the Stade de France on that evening in 2006, with goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off after 18 minutes for bringing down Samuel Eto’o. Arsene Wenger looked at the bench, looked back at Pires, and gave him a look of grim inevitability: he was the unlucky one. 

Pires was the man sacrificed for back-up goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to come on. Two days later, the French midfielder told Wenger that he was leaving the club. The final image of him in an Arsenal shirt after six glorious years was him forlornly trudging to the bench. Even now, you can see him flinch when asked about the match.

It remains one of the great sliding-doors moments in Arsenal’s history. An opportunity to be crowned kings of Europe squandered, an era of trophyless austerity at the Emirates ushered in.

For Pires, personally, the pain carried an extra edge. It was his final appearance for the club – and one of the shortest and most emotional nights of his career.

He had been one of Wenger’s trusted lieutenants during Arsenal’s Premier League title-winning campaigns in 2002 and 2004, making his removal after Lehmann’s red card all the more devastating.

The match still holds painful memories for Robert Pires, who was hooked off after Jens Lehmann was sent off for bringing down Samuel Eto’o

The Frenchman could only watch on as Barcelona came from behind to win 2-1 at the Stade de France. It proved to be his last game for the club 

‘It was a horrible moment for me,’ Pires tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘The moment was very difficult. I was very upset because we lost. I had bought seats for all my family. Everyone was there.

‘The Champions League is the best club competition. When we went back to London, everyone was very, very sad.’

The trauma of Pires’ final heartbreak has left the 52-year-old all the more desperate for Arsenal to go one better and lift a first European Cup in their 140-year history against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on Saturday. It would, after all these years, finally give Pires some solace. His eyes beam upon reflecting on Arsenal’s rise under Mikel Arteta, from 10th place to champions.

‘Of course I hope and I wish to see Arsenal win the Premier League and the Champions League, because they can make history,’ he says. ‘And I think Arsenal deserve it. After their fall last season (losing to PSG in the semi-finals), they are now very close to winning the Champions League. For the moment, everything is positive for Arsenal.

‘They can do it because they have good quality, a good team, great talents. And it’s all because Mikel Arteta is one of the best managers in the UK.’

There is a feeling that Arsenal are arriving at the final in the right moment; Arteta’s squad are no longer a talented team learning on the job. His side have shown greater composure in high-pressure matches, a trait which was missing during their previous title challenges under the Spaniard.

Internally, there is also a belief that the repeated disappointments of three consecutive seasons as runners-up have hardened the squad psychologically. For Pires, the change in fortunes at Arsenal is all to do with the mind.

‘Between the last season and this season, mentally there has been a change, because Arteta has learned about this,’ he says. ‘The communication between Arteta and the players (has improved) as well. I think he has found something new. He’s intelligent, he’s smart. When he says, “I want this guy (Eberechi) Eze”, it’s because he knows he can help Arsenal.

The loss remains one of the great sliding-doors moments in Arsenal’s history. An opportunity to be crowned kings of Europe squandered, an era of trophyless austerity at the Emirates ushered in 

‘I hope can make history,’ he says. ‘And I think they deserve it. For the moment, everything is positive for Arsenal’

‘Mikel Arteta is one of the best managers in the UK,’ says Pires of the coach who has guided Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years

‘And all the Arsenal players, they are very important, it’s not just the starting line-up. Even the guy on the bench is very important. You need the old players, you need the young players like Max Dowman, like Myles Lewis-Skelly. The team is the team.’

After a middling debut campaign when joining from Marseille in 2000, Pires was footballer of the year in the Double-winning season of 2001-02 and then a key player in Wenger’s unbeaten Invincibles side two years later, scoring 14 Premier League goals and 19 in all competitions. And he sees echoes of that team in the class of 2026.

‘I think Arsenal have the same DNA (as the Invincibles),’ he adds. ‘In my time with Arsene Wenger, it was to try to play good football. Today with Mikel Arteta, it’s the same. In my time, for example, I used to play with Patrick Vieira. He was very good. Today, for me, one of the best players is Declan Rice.

‘When you have a player like this, you are more comfortable with your team. He can make the balance between the defence, between the attack. That’s why Declan is very good. He’s a modern midfielder. They have a lot of activity on the field. Technically, he’s very good. Good quality on the cross, at corners. He can create assists. He’s very complete.’

The final pits the Gunners against a PSG team featuring world-class attackers such as Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue. So it’s Arteta’s back four which could hold the key to winning.

It has become the foundation of Arsenal’s rise, combining physicality with a tactical discipline that has made them one of Europe’s hardest teams to break down. In the Champions League this season, across 14 games they have conceded just six goals and kept nine clean sheets. That is mightily impressive.

‘Arsenal have a very good defence,’ Pires explains. ‘But when I talk about defence, it’s not only the four defenders and the goalkeeper. It’s the team, they work together. And for Arteta, that’s very important.

‘I think PSG are favourites because they have the best team in Europe. But Arsenal, they have a good argument to beat them. They have great players too.’

There is also a sense of symmetry around Arsenal returning to European football’s biggest stage two decades after the agony of Paris. Back then, Wenger’s side arrived at the final as underdogs, against a Barcelona team about to enter its own golden era, with Xavi and Andres Iniesta on the bench and Lionel Messi not yet in the matchday squad.

He sees similarities between his former team-mate Patrick Vieira and Declan Rice. ‘When you have a player like this, you are more comfortable with your team’

‘I think Arsenal have the same DNA (as the Invincibles),’ he says. ‘In my time with Arsene Wenger, it was to try to play good football. Today with Arteta, it’s the same’ 

Having already delivered the Gunners’ long-awaited league title, the end of one of the most dramatic managerial rebuilds in English football history is in sight

This Arsenal team travel with greater expectation and belief, and victory at the Puskas Arena would cement Arteta’s place among the club’s modern greats.

Having already delivered the Gunners’ long-awaited league title, the end of one of the most dramatic managerial rebuilds in English football history is in sight.

Pires’ final message to the players is simple: ‘Just be concentrated, focused and enjoy this moment. It’s like me 20 years ago when we played against Barcelona.

‘Of course, the objective is to leave with the trophy. All of them have a good opportunity. And this is a great moment. Final of the Champions League for the club, for the fans. It’s very important.’

Robert Pires is a Flixbus ambassador. Visit www.flixbus.co.uk