BBC's ranking of the most iconic Champions League final performances points to a simple lesson for this month's final. The names at the top are there because they changed a match: Rodri scoring the winner in Istanbul, Didier Drogba rescuing Chelsea late in 2012, Zinedine Zidane producing one perfect volley.
Arsenal and Paris Saint Germain do not need to copy those exact scripts, but they do need a player who leaves the final with the decisive moment. Arsenal arrive with 8 wins from 8 in the Champions League this season and have conceded only 4 goals across those matches. PSG have won 4 of their 8 Champions League games, with a DLDWL run that says they have been more uneven.
Why the BBC list points to individual moments
The list is built around one idea, whether it is Rodri in 2023, Drogba in 2012 or Oliver Kahn in the 2001 shootout against Valencia. Finals are remembered for the player who bends them his way, and the BBC's ranking reflects that without needing to dress it up.
Paul Lambert's account of the 1997 final makes the point even more sharply. He man-marked Zidane in Dortmund's 3-1 win over Juventus and later described how the Frenchman drifted off his shoulder: "The thing about Zidane, he drifts off your shoulder. He often goes away from the ball, almost baiting you. But the ball's not the danger, it's him," Lambert said.
That is why Zidane's left-footed volley from Roberto Carlos' cross at Hampden Park still stands out. Lambert could stay close and still could not take the whole problem away.
What Arsenal and PSG can take from it
This is not really about history for its own sake. It is about the type of performance that usually decides a final. Arsenal's perfect Champions League record gives them the cleaner case on paper, but PSG still have the kind of talent that can produce one decisive episode when a match tightens.
Rodri summed up the feeling after his goal in Istanbul in two words: "Emotional. A dream come true." That is the level of intervention these finals usually reward, a player who does not just play well but changes the outcome.
If Arsenal or PSG want the trophy in 2026, the safest bet is not that one side dominates for 90 minutes. It is that one player does something the other side never properly recovers from, just as Zidane, Drogba and Rodri did on the biggest night.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
