LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Arsenal's long road back to Europe's top table reaches its defining night on Saturday as they face Paris St Germain in the Champions League final, chasing a first crown that would seal the renaissance engineered by Mikel Arteta.
The London club held off Manchester City to claim a first Premier League crown for 22 years last week, finally shedding the 'nearly men' tag that had weighed on Arteta's shoulders.
With the suffocating pressure of trying to deliver the Premier League title now released, they will seek a glittering 'bonus' trophy that would see them surpass even the legend of Arsene Wenger's 2003-04 Invincibles.
They face a formidable challenge in Budapest against Luis Enrique's outstanding PSG team -- a rare blend of eye-catching flair, intelligence and hard graft.
Just as in 2006 when they lost to Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona in their only previous appearance in the final, Arsenal will start as slight underdogs.
But no one should be in any doubt about Arsenal's ability to deliver on the biggest of stages.
They may not be to everyone's liking with their reliance on defensive stability and set pieces, but the old chant of '1-0 to the Arsenal' that marked the days of former manager George Graham is now being sung with a new sense of pride.
Eight victories came by that score in the Premier League as Arsenal kept 19 clean sheets while in the Champions League they have kept a competition-high nine shutouts and conceded only six goals in 14 unbeaten games.
While reigning champions PSG have been delighting the purists, Arsenal have shown scant regard for critics of their more pragmatic approach and will not be about to tamper with what has become a watertight formula on Saturday.
"The first goal is going to be key," former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson said looking ahead to the final.
"PSG will be worried about going 1-0 down to Arsenal, because they'll know they'll be up against it -- they'll be scared of losing the first goal."
Arsenal's 2-1 defeat by Barcelona in 2006 was followed three years later by a run to the semi-finals.
After that it was as if they were making up the numbers amongst Europe's elite with seven successive last-16 exits before five seasons when they failed to even qualify for it.
Even when Arteta returned to the club as manager in 2019 it took a while for Arsenal to re-establish themselves in Europe's most prestigious club competition.
But since then the progress has been impressive.
Two years ago they lost by the odd goal against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals before reaching the semi-finals last season, falling to Luis Enrique's PSG again over two tight legs.
Spaniard Arteta felt a deep sense of grievance after that bitter loss just over a year ago -- claiming that defeat would make his team even more hungry to conquer Europe.
Now they have the chance to set the record straight -- and complete the journey from nearly men to champions of Europe.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
