Timber Cleared to Start Champions League Final for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta will walk into the biggest night of his managerial career with a major defensive question finally answered. Jurrien Timber is back, and not just back in the squad – back fit to start.

The Dutch defender, sidelined since a groin injury in March’s win over Everton, has been given the green light for Saturday’s Champions League final against Paris St‑Germain in Budapest. For weeks, right-back has looked like the one crack in Arsenal’s armour. Now, on the eve of a meeting with the reigning European champions, Arteta has his specialist in position again.

It changes the feel of the contest.

Ben White’s knee ligament injury had stripped Arsenal of their first-choice option on that flank, forcing Arteta into a series of compromises. Spain centre-back Cristhian Mosquera has been shunted wide. Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice, both natural midfielders, have also been asked to patch the hole at times. Functional, yes. Ideal, no.

Timber’s return restores balance and, crucially, familiarity. The 23-year-old has been photographed in full training in Budapest this week, moving freely as Arsenal sharpen their plan to unseat Luis Enrique’s PSG.

The good news did not stop there for Arteta. Noni Madueke, who limped off with a hamstring issue in the win over Crystal Palace last weekend, is also available. Another key attacking option back in the mix for a game where Arsenal will need every ounce of pace and invention they can muster.

Arsenal arrive as Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years. For some clubs, that might soften the edge. Not this group, not this manager.

No, the ambition is bigger, we have one [trophy] and we want the second one,” Arteta insisted when asked if the pressure had eased after clinching the league. The message inside the camp has been relentless: this is not a lap of honour, it is a launchpad.

“There has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations and to aim for more,” he said. The domestic title, historic as it is, has been framed as a step, not the summit.

His confidence in this side is rooted in their recent European body of work. Arsenal have grown season on season in the Champions League, and this year they have finally stayed the course. “The team is capable because they have shown it in the last seasons [in] this competition, what we have done this season in the competition. I want the players to be so confident that we are going to go and do it.”

They will need that conviction. PSG stride into Budapest as favourites, and with good reason. They knocked Arsenal out at the semi-final stage last year and are chasing a place in history, aiming to become only the second team to retain the trophy in the Champions League era.

The French champions know this stage, know the weight of the occasion, and know they can hurt Arsenal. That semi-final still stings in north London.

This time, though, Arteta is not talking about survival or respectability. His language is that of a challenger ready to rip the crown from the holders.

They are defending the trophy and they are the champions and we are here to take that away from them,” he said, stripping the contest down to its purest terms.

Budapest will decide whether this Arsenal side are simply the team that ended a long domestic wait, or the one that tore Europe’s biggest prize out of PSG’s hands.