Arsenal's Champions League Journey Begins in Naples

Arsenal’s long road back to the brink begins in Naples, under the lights and under pressure.

Fresh from dismantling Chelsea in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s side swap London comfort for Italian hostility on Wednesday night, opening their Champions League campaign at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The domestic form is sharp, the scars from Europe far more raw.

From Budapest heartbreak to one last step

Arsenal are still living with Budapest.

Two kicks from glory, then undone by Paris Saint-Germain in a penalty shootout in last season’s final. The story of that night has been told and retold: a jaded Arsenal dragged to the finish line by an exhausting league campaign, up against a PSG side that strolled into the showpiece with fresh legs after another unchallenged title at home.

The defeat hurt. It also underlined how far the club has travelled under Arteta.

Since returning to the Champions League after the 2022/23 season, Arsenal have climbed the ladder with ruthless consistency: quarterfinals in 2023/24, semifinals in 2024/25, the final last season. One rung higher every year. There is only one progression left, and it is the one that has always eluded them.

Winning this competition is no longer a dream scenario. It is the missing line on the résumé. The difference between a very good era and an era that gets carved into club folklore.

That pursuit starts all over again on Wednesday.

Navigating the new Champions League maze

This is the third year of the modernised league phase, a format that looks more like a mini-season than a traditional group stage. Each club faces eight different opponents, two drawn from each of the four pots based on UEFA’s coefficient rankings. Pot 1 houses the heavyweights and champions; Pot 4 holds the newcomers and climbers.

The equation is simple and brutal: finish in the top eight and you skip the first knockout round entirely. Arsenal have done exactly that in both previous seasons, even topping the table outright last year. That bye is no luxury for them now; it is the baseline expectation.

Eight matches sound generous. They are not. One bad week can drag you into the chaos of the playoff spots, or worse. For a side with designs on going one better than Budapest, a strong start is non-negotiable.

The catch? Arsenal begin on the road. Again.

Their league phase slate is unforgiving in places: trips to Napoli, Bayern Munich, Slavia Prague and Real Betis; home dates with Lille, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Sabah FK. It is a schedule that asks questions of depth, resilience and nerve long before the knockouts.

Napoli: wounded, dangerous, and in transition

On paper, this looks like a meeting of opposites.

Arsenal arrive with three wins from three in the Premier League, already carrying the swagger of champions who have no intention of stepping back. Napoli sit 13th in Serie A with a 1-0-2 record, their start punctured by two defeats in three.

Look closer and the picture shifts.

Those losses came against Inter Milan, currently third, and Como, flying high in second. Napoli have also been juggling injuries to key players. The table says mid-table strugglers; the squad list says something very different.

This is a club only two years removed from winning Serie A in 2024/25, their second domestic crown in five seasons. They added the Supercoppa Italiana last year as well, a reminder that they still know how to handle big occasions in Italy. Their authority at home is not in doubt. Their ability to translate that into Europe very much is.

Last season’s Champions League run was a mess. Two wins in the league phase, then an early exit in January. For a club with Napoli’s ambition, that stung. Like Arsenal, they have rarely found the right rhythm on this stage. Unlike Arsenal, they are not expected to lift the trophy, but they have enough quality to make life uncomfortable for anyone over 90 minutes.

Allegri’s challenge and a reshaped squad

Massimiliano Allegri stands at the centre of it all.

He arrived after Antonio Conte’s departure at the end of the 2025/26 season, inheriting a squad that had already tasted recent success but was beginning to fray. Allegri’s record in Serie A is decorated, his tactical reputation long established. Yet the last league title he guided a team to came in 2018/19 with Juventus. That gap hangs over him.

Can he turn this Napoli side into something more than a memory of what it was under Conte?

The squad offers both promise and problems. The biggest issue is obvious: the number nine shirt.

Two seasons ago, Victor Osimhen left for Turkey. This summer, Romelu Lukaku followed him to the same country, joining Fenerbahçe. Two heavyweight centre-forwards gone in quick succession. In response, Napoli turned to the Premier League, bringing in Rasmus Højlund from Manchester United.

Højlund is not the kind of signing that sends shockwaves through Europe, but he walks into a dressing room that is hardly being built from scratch. Former United teammate Scott McTominay is already there, though currently sidelined with an arrhythmia. Kevin de Bruyne, a legend of Manchester City’s great era, brings a level of vision and experience that can tilt tight games.

Around them, Napoli have moved busily: Alisson Santos from Sporting, Vanja Milinković-Savić from Torino, Benoît Badiashile on loan from Chelsea, plus Costantino Favasuli, Mattia Esposito and Dinis Rodrigues to deepen the squad. Out the door have gone Miguel Gutiérrez 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.

Injury problems complicate Allegri’s early weeks. Alessandro Buongiorno is out with a knee issue, Luca Marianucci with ligament damage, McTominay with his heart condition, Giovani with a hernia. It is hardly the clean slate a new manager craves.

Yet Arsenal will not be fooled by a league table or an injury list. Their own history with Napoli demands respect: four meetings, three wins, one defeat. Enough dominance to inspire confidence, enough jeopardy to keep complacency at bay.

Arsenal’s standard has changed

The context around Arsenal has shifted dramatically in recent years. Simply qualifying for the Champions League was once the target. Now, finishing first in the league phase and walking into the quarterfinals feels like the minimum requirement.

Arteta has built a side that treats this competition as its natural habitat, not a special occasion. The progression is clear. The expectation inside the club is clearer still.

Napoli, with their proud stadium and restless fanbase, offer a stern opening examination. This is not the polished, peak version that stormed to the Scudetto, but it remains a team with the tools to spring an upset, particularly at home.

For Arsenal, this is about more than three points. It is about setting the tone for another nine-month march across Europe. About proving that Budapest was not a peak, but a staging post.

Matchday 1. Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Premier League champions against a former Serie A king, both chasing a version of themselves they believe is still out there.

If Arsenal are serious about climbing that final step, these are the nights they must own.