Arsenal Begins Champions League Journey Against Napoli

Arsenal’s long road back to the Champions League summit starts in the shadow of Vesuvius.

Fresh from dismantling Chelsea in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s side swap London for Naples on Wednesday, opening their latest European campaign at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The scars of Budapest are still fresh: two kicks from the trophy, beaten on penalties by Paris St. Germain in last season’s final. That night felt like both an ending and a warning. Arsenal had staggered into the showpiece after an exhausting league run; PSG arrived with a domestic title wrapped up weeks earlier and legs to match.

Yet that defeat also marked a clear line in the club’s modern history. Since Arteta first dragged Arsenal back into the Champions League after the 2022/23 season, they have climbed a rung every year: quarterfinals in 2023/24, semifinals in 2024/25, finalists last season. There is only one step left. And it is the one that has always slipped from their grasp.

Winning this competition is the last mountain for Arsenal. They are already a serious side; lift the Champions League, and they move into a different stratosphere.

A new campaign, the same ruthless standard

The journey begins again in the league phase, now in its third year under UEFA’s revamped format. Eight games, eight different opponents, drawn from four seeded pots based on coefficient and recent success. Pot 1 holds the champions and heavyweights; Pot 4 is where the newcomers and climbers usually land.

Finish in the top eight and you skip the first knockout round. Arsenal have made that look almost routine, securing a bye in each of the last two seasons and topping the entire league phase last time out. That is no longer a target. It is the baseline expectation.

Eight games sound generous. They are not. The margin for error is slim, and Arsenal know a sluggish start can turn a campaign into a scramble. They also know this: they begin on the road again, in a stadium that can suffocate visiting sides when the noise rises.

Their league phase schedule lays out the scale of the task:

• 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 first. And it is a trickier opening than the Serie A table suggests.

Napoli in transition, but still dangerous

On paper, the form lines are stark. Arsenal have started their Premier League title defence with three wins from three and look primed for another deep European run. Napoli sit 13th in Serie A with a 1-0-2 record, two defeats from three.

Look closer.

Those losses came against Inter Milan, currently third, and Como, sitting second. Napoli have been shuffling through injuries to key players and bedding in a new manager. Their league position misleads; this is not a mid-table side masquerading as a contender. It is a contender trying to remember how to be itself.

Only two years ago, Napoli were champions of Italy in 2024/25, their second Scudetto in five seasons. Last year they added the Supercoppa Italiana, the domestic curtain-raiser that mirrors England’s Community Shield. Inside their borders, their pedigree is not in question. But Italian dominance has never guaranteed European glory.

Last season’s Champions League run underlined that. Two wins in the league phase, and they were gone by January. For a club of their size and recent success, it was a blunt failure. Like Arsenal, Napoli have never quite found their rhythm in this competition. Unlike Arsenal, they are not among the favourites to change that this year. Still, they have enough quality and enough experience to make the knockouts if they steady themselves.

A new spine, an old question

Napoli’s squad has been reshaped, and not always by choice. The biggest void remains up front. Victor Osimhen departed for Turkey two seasons ago; this summer, Romelu Lukaku followed the same path. Two centrepieces of their attack gone in quick succession.

To fill the gap, Napoli turned to the Premier League again, bringing in Rasmus Højlund from Manchester United. It is not the sort of blockbuster that stops traffic across Europe, but he walks into a largely settled dressing room and a structure that should help him. Familiarity will come from Scott McTominay, another former Manchester United man, and the presence of Kevin de Bruyne, a figure who needs no introduction after his defining years at Manchester City.

Around them, Napoli have worked the market: 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.

They will not be at full strength on Wednesday. Alessandro Buongiorno (knee), Luca Marianucci (ligament), Scott McTominay (arrhythmia) and Giovani (hernia) are all sidelined. For a side already searching for fluency, those absences matter.

Hovering over all of this is Massimiliano Allegri. The Italian took over after Antonio Conte’s departure at the end of the 2025/26 season, inheriting a squad used to being pushed hard and drilled relentlessly. Allegri’s record in Serie A is stacked, but his last league title came with Juventus in 2018/19. The question hangs in the air in Naples: is he the man to extend Conte’s work or the man who arrives just after the peak?

Arsenal’s standard, Napoli’s stage

Arsenal arrive with history on their side in this fixture. Their all-time record against Napoli stands at three wins and one defeat, a small sample but a clear edge. That will not quiet the crowd in Naples, nor will it blunt the intensity of a club desperate to reassert itself in Europe.

The setting is clear:

• 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 Paramount+ and Prime Video apps

Arsenal know what this season is about. The incremental progress is over. There is no “next step” after a final, only the trophy itself. The campaign starts in a city that understands both glory and heartbreak better than most.

If Arteta’s side really are ready to join Europe’s true elite, this is the kind of night where they have to show it.