Arsenal's Champions League Journey Begins in Naples
Arsenal’s road back to the summit of Europe starts under Italian floodlights, with the memory of Budapest still burning a hole in their ambitions.
Fresh from dismantling Chelsea in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s side leave the comfort of north London for a demanding run of away days, beginning with a midweek trip to Naples on Wednesday as the new-look Champions League league phase kicks off. The domestic form is sharp, the mood is bullish. The scars from last season are still fresh.
From heartbreak in Budapest to one last step
Arsenal came within two kicks of the trophy in May, losing on penalties to Paris St. Germain in the final in Budapest. It was a night that laid bare the margins at this level. Arteta’s players staggered into that showpiece after an exhausting league campaign; PSG arrived with fresher legs and another routine domestic title behind them. The contrast told in the closing stages and, ultimately, in the shootout.
The frustration will not fade quickly. But for the club, that run marked a clear escalation. Since returning to the Champions League under Arteta after the 2022/23 season, Arsenal have climbed a rung every year: quarterfinals in 2023/24, semifinals in 2024/25, then the final last season. There is only one progression left. The one that has always eluded them.
Winning the Champions League is the last mountain in front of this group, the step that would move Arsenal from contenders to the company of the true modern elite. That climb starts again now.
Navigating the new Champions League
This is the third year of UEFA’s revamped “league phase” format. No traditional groups. Instead, each club plays eight different opponents, two from each of four seeded pots determined by UEFA’s coefficient rankings. Pot 1 is stacked with champions and European heavyweights; Pot 4 is home to the newcomers and climbers.
Finish in the top eight and you skip straight into the round of 16 with a bye. Arsenal have made that cut in each of the last two seasons and even topped the overall standings last term. That is no longer a dream scenario. It is the expectation.
Eight games sound generous, but the margin for error is slim. A couple of poor nights and the entire campaign bends out of shape. Starting well matters, yet Arsenal must do it the hard way again: away from home, in a stadium that feeds off noise and tension.
Their league phase schedule is unforgiving and glamorous in equal measure:
- Napoli vs Arsenal – Wednesday, September 9
- Arsenal vs Lille – Tuesday, October 13
- Bayern Munich vs Arsenal – Wednesday, October 21
- Slavia Prague vs Arsenal – Wednesday, November 4
- Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund – Tuesday, November 24
- Arsenal vs Real Madrid – Wednesday, December 9
- Real Betis vs Arsenal – Wednesday, January 20
- Arsenal vs Sabah FK – Wednesday, January 27
Naples comes first. And it comes with warning signs.
Napoli: wounded, dangerous, and in transition
On paper, Arsenal arrive in southern Italy in ideal shape. Three wins from three in the Premier League, rhythm in attack, and the aura of reigning English champions. Napoli, by contrast, sit 13th in Serie A with a 1-0-2 record and early-season doubts swirling.
Look a little closer, and the picture shifts.
Those two defeats came against Inter Milan, currently third, and Como, sitting second. Napoli have also had to juggle injuries to key players. The table says mid-table. The squad says something very different: an experienced, battle-hardened side still adjusting to a new voice on the touchline.
This is a club only two years removed from winning Serie A in 2024/25, their second domestic title in five years. Last season they added the Supercoppa Italiana, Italy’s equivalent of the Community Shield, to their honours list. They know how to win in Italy. Translating that into Europe has been a very different challenge.
Last season’s Champions League campaign was a mess. Just two wins in the league phase and an exit in January. For a club with Napoli’s talent, that was a jolt. Like Arsenal, they have never quite cracked this competition, and they will not start this season among the favourites. But they have enough quality to reach the knockouts and enough pride to treat matchday one as a statement opportunity.
Allegri’s puzzle and life after Lukaku
The squad is strong, but incomplete. The glaring issue sits up front.
Two seasons ago, Victor Osimhen left for Turkey. This summer, Romelu Lukaku followed him to the Turkish league. That is a huge amount of penalty-box presence and goals stripped out in successive windows. Napoli have turned to Rasmus Højlund from Manchester United to fill the void. It is not the kind of signing that shifts the balance of power in Europe, but he walks into a largely settled side.
He is joined by another familiar Premier League face in midfield: Scott McTominay, also formerly of Manchester United, plus Kevin de Bruyne, the former Manchester City playmaker whose reputation needs no embellishment. Around them, the club have added depth with the arrivals of Alisson Santos from Sporting, Vanja Milinković-Savić from Torino, Benoît Badiashile on loan from Chelsea, Costantino Favasuli from Catanzaro, Mattia Esposito from Sorrento, and Dinis Rodrigues from FC Sion.
There has been movement the other way. Miguel Gutiérrez has gone to Leverkusen, Giovanni Simeone to Torino, Lukaku to Fenerbahçe, Alessandro Zanoli to Udinese, Luis Hasa and Alessio Zerbi to Frosinone, and Walid Cheddira to Avellino.
Injuries have complicated the start. Alessandro Buongiorno (knee), Luca Marianucci (ligament), Scott McTominay (arrhythmia), and Giovani (hernia) are all sidelined, thinning options for a coach who is still trying to stamp his identity on the team.
That coach is Massimiliano Allegri. A serial winner in Serie A, a familiar face, and a manager whose last league title came with Juventus in 2018/19. He replaced Antonio Conte at the end of the 2025/26 season and inherits a club used to success and volatility in equal measure. His task is clear: follow Conte’s domestic achievements and drag Napoli back into Europe’s serious conversation.
Does he still have that edge at this level? Naples is about to find out.
Arsenal’s test under the Maradona lights
Arsenal’s all-time record against Napoli reads well: three wins and one defeat. History, though, counts for very little in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona when the noise swells and the first tackles bite.
This is what awaits:
- WHO: Arsenal at Napoli
- WHAT: Champions League league phase, matchday 1
- WHEN: Wednesday, September 9, 3:00pm EST / 12:00pm PST / 8:00pm GMT
- WHERE: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples
- HOW TO WATCH: Streaming on the Paramount+ and Prime Video apps
Arsenal arrive as Premier League champions, hardened by last season’s near miss and driven by the knowledge that there is only one way to improve on a penalty shootout defeat in the final.
Napoli stand in their way: bruised, reshaped, but far from broken.
If Arsenal truly intend to conquer that last mountain, nights like this cannot just be survived. They have to be owned.
