Bukayo Saka scored from a direct free-kick in the 35th minute of Arsenal's 2-0 win over PSG Paris Saint-German on Tuesday night, the club's first free-kick goal in the competition since November 2002, when Thierry Henry scored in a 3-1 away win over Roma.

When Theirry Henry scored from a direct free-kick in the 75th minute to complete his hat-trick in the Stadio Olympico, no one knew that Arsenal's next in the competition will take this long, and absolutely none had a clue that it'll come from a kid who had recently celebrated the first year anniversary of his birth.

It has been 143 UEFA Champions League games involving the Gunners since they last scored a free-kick goal in the competition, and for Bukayo Saka, it was surely a moment to relish for the 23-year-old, who had never scored from a direct free-kick for the club.

How it happened in Arsenal 2-0 PSG

Arsenal started the game strong against the French champions, who were missing their main man in Ousmane Dembele following a disciplinary suspension imposed by manager Luis Enrique due to an incident that happened in their win over Rennes during the weekend.

Kai Havertz opened the scoring in the 20th minute with his 19th Arsenal goal, taking him level with former Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, who had joined The Gooners the summer before Havertz arrived from Chelsea.

Leandro Trossard progressed the ball forward and took his time before sending a cross into the danger zone, where Havertz managed to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma, who anticipated the danger and came off his lines, but didn't get anything on the ball.

The Germany international's header found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season, while Leandro Trossard, who got his first assist of the season, continues to thrive in his new role in the absence of captain Martin Ødegaard. The Belgian also continues to make up for his red card in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad.

The opening goal also served as a good omen for the host, who had lost just one in 45 UEFA Champions League home games when scoring the first goal of the night. It came in the form of a 5-1 humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich in March 2017.

With the deadlock broken, PSG Paris Saint-Germain pushed forward ambitiously in search of an equalizer. Achraf Hakimi was presented a promising chance to restore parity, but he could only win a corner kick off David Raya.

PSG Paris Saint-Germain had scored in 51 straight UEFA Champions League group games before last night. The last time they failed to score in a UCL group game was in a 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid nine years ago in November 2015, in the Santiago Bernabéu.

The main moment of the match came five minutes after the half-hour mark. Captain on the night, Bukayo Saka won a free-kick down the right after an excessively rough play by Nuno Mendes, and the Englishman stepped up to take it.

He whipped a dangerous cross into the area, which eluded everyone, and attempts from both Gabriel Martinelli and Thomas Partey left Donnarumma in no man's land, with the ball finding its way into the back of the net for 2-0 Arsenal.

Bukayo Saka ends a 22-year drought for Arsenal

In doing so, Bukayo Saka achieved a famous feat of scoring Arsenal's first UEFA Champions League goal since Thierry Henry last did for them during the time of Arsené Wenger, in a 3-1 win away to Roma, some 22 years ago in 2002.

Between Saka's free-kick goal and Henry's, the Gunners have played 148 UEFA Champions League matches and taken 50 free-kicks, but none were able to deliver a goal until Bukayo Saka against PSG in October 2024.

Of course, Arsenal did score free-kick goals in Europe. The elegant sight of Nicolas Pepe coming off the bench to put two free-kick goals past Vitoria Guimaraes in the Europa League in 2019 has not completely faded from memory.

Bukayo Saka's effort was also the club's free-kick goal across all competitions since Martin Ødegaard's effort in a 1-0 win over Burnley in September 2021.

With PSG’s dangerman, Bradley Barcol, completely shut down on the left by Jurrien Timber, who was not to be beaten in his 45 minutes played on the night, the team was left with nothing to feed on in the final third.

The Dutchman (Timber) was withdrawn at half-time and replaced by Jakub Kiwior, with Mikel Arteta providing an update on his fitness at full-time.

"He was unbelievable in the first half but he felt something muscular and he wasn’t certain. He’s played more minutes than we would have wanted in the past few weeks and we have to manage him." The Arsenal boss said at full-time.

Arsenal inflicted PSG’s first defeat of the season while they continue theirs by earning their first win of the UEFA Champions League this season.

They've now kept five clean sheets in six home games since their return to the competition last season.

Arsenal: Moving Forward 

Up next is a return to Premier League action on Saturday against Southampton, the newly promoted side that has won just one point after six games into the league season.

However, Arsenal do need to be wary because the Saints possess a great deal of threat on paper. They are unbeaten in their last three games against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal. In the season of their relegation, they haunted the Gunners' title charge in a 3-3 draw in the Emirates.

Arsenal survived a late scare against another newly promoted side in Leicester City last weekend. They need not be told not to leave anything to chance when Southampton comes to London this weekend.

With Bukayo Saka now making himself a threat from direct free-kick, it opens up another potential for Mikel Arteta to explore, one that will not only benefit the club and the player, but for the whole of Arsenal and they push for a first major silverware, since the Invincibles in 2004.

When asked about winning the Premier League title at full-time, Bukayo Saka said to CBS: "I don’t wanna put too much pressure on us… but I do think this is the year".

"We’ve been close the last two years, we’re getting closer… I hope this will be the year".

Arsenal - Southampton expectations 

The Gunners will be overwhelming favourites and David Raya might also finish the day with his third clean sheet of the league season, against a side with the fewest goals scored so far in the Premier League.

Although Russell Martin's men have scored in each of their last three games across all competitions. But should Arsenal put up the kind of defensive performance they did against PSG, then a clean sheet should not be farfetched.

Bukayo Saka failed to set a new record for the most consecutive Premier League games with assists at the start of a season last time out against Leicester, in a match he created four big chances but was denied by an inspired Mads Hermansen.

He will be looking to get himself on a run again, and it could be a long day for Southampton in the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.