Alessandro Del Piero singled out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as the player of the competition while Fabio Capello praised the defensive quality that made Arsenal so difficult to break down.
PSG retained the European title 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, with Kai Havertz opening the scoring for Arsenal in the sixth minute before Ousmane Dembélé's second-half spot kick levelled the match. Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhães both missed in the shootout to hand the French champions a second consecutive crown.
Del Piero, speaking pitchside for Sky Italia after the final whistle, focused his attention on the Georgian winger whose energy and directness had caused Arsenal problems throughout.
"If it were not for the World Cup, Kvaratskhelia is certainly the Ballon d'Or winner of the Champions League — nobody like him has been so decisive in terms of goals, assists and presence on the field."
On Arsenal's season in the broader context, Del Piero was generous.
"Arsenal had an extraordinary season, even if tonight in my opinion they were a little too passive after taking the lead. But that is the only flaw in an extraordinary campaign — we must remember that the Premier League is an extremely demanding competition that asks a great deal of its teams."
Capello, also in Budapest for the final, drew out a more specifically tactical assessment.
"It was a very tactical match. Arsenal played defensively, PSG were more of a team. When they have the ball, the French side make it travel — but without Kvara tonight it would have been very difficult to score against an Arsenal side that impressed me enormously defensively. Tonight I understood why they conceded so few goals."
He added that Kvaratskhelia's importance to the PSG attack cannot be overstated — a fitting summation of a final that was decided not by the quality of either team's attack, but by who held their nerve at the end.