2006 UEFA Champions League final

2006 UEFA Champions League final
Event	2005–06 UEFA Champions League
Date	17 May 2006
Venue	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Man of the Match	Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)
Referee	Terje Hauge (Norway)
Attendance	79,610
Weather	Partly cloudy; 15 °C (59 °F); 33% humidity
	← 2005 2007 →

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, having won the competition once in 1992, while it was Arsenal's first (and to date, only) final appearance and the first appearance by a club from London.

Each club progressed through the group stage and three 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.

A crowd of 79,500 watched as Jens Lehmann was sent off early in the game. Despite this setback, Arsenal took the lead through Sol Campbell towards the end of the first half. After an hour, Henrik Larsson came on for Barcelona and was involved in both of their goals. 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 won their first European Cup in 1992.

^ ^a ^b "2. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2022/23. Nyon: Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2023. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
^ "Tactical Line-ups – Final – Wednesday 17 May 2006" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 May 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2006.

[attendance-1] "2. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2022/23. Nyon: Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2023. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2024.

[lineups-2] "Tactical Line-ups – Final – Wednesday 17 May 2006" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 May 2006. Retrieved 26 November 2006.

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