The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match between Barcelona of Spain and Arsenal of England at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, France, on Wednesday, 17 May 2006. It was the final match of the 2005–06 season of Europe's primary cup competition, the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were appearing in their fifth final, they had won the competition once in 1992, and lost the other three finals. Arsenal were appearing in the final for the first time and in doing so became the first club from London to feature in the final.
Each club needed to progress through the group stage and knockout rounds to reach the final, playing 12 matches in total. Barcelona won their group and progressed to the final after beating Chelsea, Benfica and Milan, respectively. Arsenal won their group to move into the knockout stage, and progressed without conceding a goal against Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal, respectively.
Watched by a crowd of 79,500, Arsenal had Jens Lehmann sent off early in the first half, however they took the lead through Sol Campbell towards the end of the first half. Barcelona equalised through Samuel Eto'o near the end of the second half, and a few minutes later Juliano Belletti scored to give Barcelona a 2–1 victory. This was Barcelona's second triumph in the competition, 14 years after they first won the European Cup in 1992.
Read more about 2006 UEFA Champions League Final: Route To The Final, Build-up, Post-match
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