Declan Rice has described himself as a "big-game player" as he looks to end Arsenal's wait for Champions League glory against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday. 

The recently-crowned Premier League champions take on the holders at Puskas Arena as they look to end a seismic campaign by picking up two of football's biggest prizes. 

Arsenal are taking part in their second European Cup/Champions League final, 20 years after their first appearance in 2006, when Arsene Wenger's side lost to Barcelona.  

The Gunners could become the 25th team to win the competition and the third first-time winner over the last four editions, after Manchester City in 2023 and PSG last season. 

However, Arsenal have played more matches (225) in Champions League/European Cup history than any other club without winning the trophy, though there is a different feeling surrounding the team that Mikel Arteta has built. 

Rice has been a pivotal part of Arsenal's success since his reported £100m move from West Ham in 2023, and the midfielder is hoping to deliver another strong performance on the biggest stage of all.

"I would like to say I'm a big-game player," Rice told UEFA.com.

"When you play in the biggest competitions, you need your players to step up at every single point, and not only just me.

"I think our team have done that over the last few years in big games – we've stepped up, especially in the Champions League. There's a few of us that have got that in us, and we're going to need that going into the final as well.

"In football, you can't determine before the game whether you're going to play well or not. It's the unknown. But what you can control is how you start the game off, how [much] confidence you can build within yourself.

"And whether that's with your first touch, a tackle, a header, always do the first thing right, and you build from there."

Perhaps Rice's most memorable display in the Champions League came last April, with the England international crashing in two stunning free-kicks to beat 15-time winners Real Madrid 3-1 in their quarter-final first leg, before the Gunners reached the final four 5-1 on aggregate. 

He became the first player in the competition's history to score two direct free-kicks in a knockout-stage match, while it was just the fifth time overall a player had scored more than one in the same Champions League game, after Cristiano Ronaldo, Hakim Ziyech, Neymar and Rivaldo. 

But Arsenal's run in 2024-25 was halted by PSG, who won 3-1 on aggregate and claimed victories in both legs in that last-four tie.

Luis Enrique's side went on to thump Inter 5-0 in the final, and they are now aiming to become only the second club in the Champions League era (since 1992-93) to successfully defend their title, a feat only previously achieved by Real Madrid when they won three in a row between 2016 and 2018.

And Rice acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead, adding: "PSG are a really good side. [We] played them over two legs last year.

"It could have gone either way, so speaking about it now, may the best team win.

"What did we learn from last season's semi-final defeat? That you've got to take your chances, because we had plenty of them.

"It wasn't meant to be, but it's [those] moments that set you up for the moments that are coming. We'll be ready. You need to be on your A-Game to beat PSG.

"You need that fuel in your belly from the first whistle, that you're going to win this final. It's the biggest competition in football. Champions League final, it gets no bigger than that.

"What a chance, what an opportunity. It'll be the last kick of club football for the season, so go out on a high and give it absolutely everything, one last empty of the tank and give it everything you've got to win such a beautiful trophy with this club."