Champions League glory a 'bigger destination' for Arsenal after finally winning Premier League

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Winning the Premier League just isn’t enough.

That was the message Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta and his players conveyed on Friday as they set out their determination to deliver the best season in the club’s 140-year history by also becoming European champions for the first time.

“When you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy, you know how nice it feels,” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard said, a day before playing Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.

“And we want to do it again.”

A suggestion by a reporter that Saturday’s title match at Puskas Arena might be a “free hit” for Arsenal was immediately shot down by Arteta.

His players, Arteta insisted, now “want more.”

“The ambition is bigger,” the Spanish coach said. “We have one, and we want the second one, and that’s what we’ve been talking about.

“There has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations, and I’m going for more. The team is capable of it.”

Arsenal ended its 22-year wait for a Premier League title by outlasting Manchester City this season, setting off an explosion of joy in north London and beyond.

Tens of thousands of fans filled the streets to celebrate. Congratulations filtered down from the British Prime Minister. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was seen wearing Arsenal-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.

This is widely regarded as Arsenal’s moment in the English game, with Manchester City potentially vulnerable following Pep Guardiola’s exit and other rivals in English soccer — like Liverpool and Chelsea — going through difficulties or a transitional period.

Yet the Gunners have also risen to the summit of European soccer, topping the league phase of the Champions League with eight straight wins and reaching the final without being beaten along the way.

All those near misses are in the past. Arteta said he was even encouraged watching back replays of Arsenal’s semifinal exit at the hands of PSG last season, saying he felt his team deserved more.

“This was a long way away, trying to win the Premier League and the Champions League,” said Bukayo Saka, the England winger who has come through Arsenal’s academy and is the sole survivor from the FA Cup-winning team from 2020 — the only previous time the team won a trophy under Arteta.

“It feels like this last week it has all become a reality," Saka added. "I’m excited about the opportunity to win another trophy and create history for the club that I love.”

PSG is also trying to create some history by becoming just the second team — after Real Madrid from 2016-18 — to successfully defend the title since the competition was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.

PSG coach Luis Enrique said his team had “already gone down in the history books as one of the best in the world” and disagreed with the sentiment that this final meant more to Arsenal, which is going for a first Champions League title.

“Yes, that’s powerful,” Luis Enrique said. “But do you know how powerful it is winning a second Champions League in a row? It’s bigger.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Arsenal's Martin Odegaard and his wife Helene Spilling celebrate their Premier League title with the trophy after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal in London, England, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal players celebrate their Premier League title with the trophy after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal in London, England, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Martin Odegaard meets the media ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Arsenal, in Budapest, Friday 29, 2026. (Ina Fassbender, Pool Photo via AP)

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta walks on the pitch during a training session ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta meets the media ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Arsenal, in Budapest, Friday 29, 2026. (Ina Fassbender, Pool Photo via AP)

DALLAS (AP) — Firefighters responding to reports of a gas leak had arrived at a Dallas apartment building and were preparing to evacuate residents when it exploded in a massive fireball, killing three people and injuring several more, the city's fire chief said Friday.

Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball said the first responders did “everything they were supposed to do” and were about to enter the building to remove residents when the explosion happened. No firefighters were injured, Ball said during a news conference.

Officials do not expect to find any more victims in the charred rubble of the apartment building in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown Dallas, he said.

“There is nobody unaccounted for or we’d still be searching,” Ball said.

The explosion Thursday afternoon shook nearby homes and the resulting inferno razed the two-story complex. A child and two other people were killed and at least five people were injured and sent to hospitals, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said late Thursday.

It was unclear how many residents lived there but Ball said the complex contained 22 apartments.

Several blocks of streets around the explosion site were still closed off by police cars and police tape Friday. The smell of smoke lingered over the area as law enforcement officials and workers in bright yellow vests circled the rubble of what was once the apartment building.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of eight investigators would arrive by Friday afternoon. The agency investigates gas pipeline accidents, and said that initial reports indicated a contractor had damaged an underground gas pipeline.

Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider, also said in a statement they were told by fire officials that a construction crew unrelated to the company had damaged a pipeline near the site of the fire. The company did not provide further details.

Natural gas service to the area remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site, the company said.

An attorney for the apartment owner said the building was being sold to a buyer who planned to build a new housing unit, and that an engineering firm hired by that company struck the gas line while doing soil testing.

“The owner is shocked by this outcome and likewise mourns this outcome,” attorney Geoff Henley said. “We still do not know how many perished in this fireball.”

Sherry Woods, who lives in an apartment across an alleyway from the fire site, said Friday she was sitting outside her front door when she and her boyfriend smelled what they believed to be gas.

Moments later, the explosion nearly knocked her down.

“All you heard was ‘boom.’ I shook like something was hitting me. It was scary to hear something like that. I felt the building shake,” Woods said.

Authorities set up a family reunification center at a nearby high school. Several hours after the blaze, Frances Rizo was still trying to find her friend who lived in the building.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Rizo said.

Trish Thompson surveyed the site from across a grassy field Friday morning and could see the gap on the block where the apartment complex stood just 24-hours earlier.

Thompson, who lives nearby, described hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and fire.

“Pray for them,” Thompson said.

Associated Press journalist Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed.

Damage is visible following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Officials stand near rubble following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Officials stand near rubble following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Trish Thompson looks over a fence at the damage left behind following an apartment complex fire not far from where she lives, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A vehicle is seen damaged following an apartment complex fire, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)