Paris erupted after Paris Saint-Germain clinched their second Champions League title on Saturday night, but PSG UCL celebrations quickly turned ugly as police detained 45 people amid widespread disorder across the French capital. Fans had barely finished cheering the final whistle in Budapest, Hungary — where PSG beat Arsenal on penalties in a dramatic final — before trouble flared on the streets back home.
PSG UCL Celebrations Descend Into Disorder Near Arc de Triomphe
Around 20,000 supporters flooded the Champs-Elysées, with dozens more marching the avenues surrounding the Arc de Triomphe. Flares lit up the Paris skyline, car horns blared, and the atmosphere crackled with raw energy. Unfortunately, smaller groups used the cover of the celebrations to cause serious damage. Shops were vandalised, fires were set, and one police officer sustained an injury during the chaos.
Most alarmingly, a group attempted to storm a police station in the upmarket 8th Arrondissement before officers dispersed them. The main ring road around Paris was also briefly blockaded by a crowd. A bakery and a restaurant both suffered damage before police regained control. By 10 p.m., authorities had taken 45 people into custody. Officers further contained roughly 1,000 fans who had gathered near the PSG stadium in the 16th Arrondissement, clearing barricades constructed from bicycles strewn across the road.
Comparing the Chaos to Last Year’s Far Worse UCL Night
As significant as Saturday’s disorder was, it pales against what followed PSG’s first Champions League triumph. According to BBC Sport, French authorities made more than 500 arrests across the entire country after that victory in May last year, with Paris deploying 8,000 police officers across the city on high alert. By comparison, Saturday’s scenes — though genuinely serious — represent a smaller-scale breakdown of order.
Meanwhile, if you want to understand what the defeat means for the other side, our piece on how the Champions League final loss exposes Arsenal’s biggest limitation is essential reading. For PSG, though, this is a moment of pure historic glory — even if the streets of Paris told a grimmer story as the night wore on.