Arsenal's Champions League Journey Begins Against Napoli

Arsenal’s long road back to the Champions League final starts in the shadow of Diego Maradona.

Fresh from dismantling Chelsea in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s side swap London for Naples on Wednesday, opening their latest tilt at Europe’s biggest prize against a Napoli team that looks wounded on paper but carries far more bite than its early Serie A record suggests.

Arsenal’s unfinished business

Arsenal are not just returning to the Champions League. They are returning to a wound.

Last season in Budapest, they stood two kicks from the trophy before Paris St. Germain snatched it away in a penalty shootout. Arsenal arrived at that final running on fumes after a draining league campaign; PSG did not, cruising in off the back of another comfortable domestic title. The contrast was stark, and brutal.

Yet that defeat has become a landmark for the club under Arteta. Since returning to the Champions League after the 2022/23 season, Arsenal have climbed the ladder one rung at a time: quarterfinals in 2023/24, semifinals in 2024/25, finalists last season. There is only one step left. The hardest one.

Winning the Champions League is the last great frontier for this group. It is the difference between being a great side and entering the small, ruthless circle of the truly elite. Everything about this campaign is framed by that reality.

A new format, same demand: no slip-ups

The journey restarts in the now-familiar “league phase,” back for a third year. Eight games. Eight different opponents. Two drawn from each of four pots, arranged by UEFA coefficient, with the champions and heavyweights stacked in Pot 1 and the newcomers and qualifiers filtering down to Pot 4.

Finish in the top eight and you skip the first knockout round. Arsenal have done that in each of the last two seasons, even topping the table outright last year. That isn’t a dream any more; it’s the standard.

Eight matches might sound like a generous runway, but the competition’s margins are thin. One bad week can drag you into the traffic. One sluggish start can turn a comfortable path into a scrap for seeding.

And Arsenal begin away. Again.

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

It is a run that offers everything: old scars in Munich, European royalty in Madrid, awkward away days in Prague and Seville, and the expectation that Arsenal should impose themselves throughout. But all of that comes later.

First, Naples.

Napoli’s stutter hides a heavyweight

On the surface, Arsenal arrive in far better shape.

Three wins from three in the Premier League. Confidence high. Patterns clear. The look of a side ready to go deep in Europe again.

Napoli, by contrast, sit 13th in Serie A with a 1-0-2 record. Two defeats in three. Not exactly the form that screams danger to a visiting champion.

That reading is lazy.

Those losses came against Inter Milan, currently third, and Como, sitting second. Napoli have also had to juggle injuries to key players. Strip that context away and their league position looks damning; add it back and you see something else: a team in transition, not in freefall.

They are only two years removed from winning Serie A in 2024/25, their second domestic title in five seasons. They lifted the Supercoppa Italiana last season as well, the local equivalent of the Community Shield. This is a club used to pressure, used to expectation, used to playing with a target on its back.

Their problem has been Europe. Last season’s Champions League run collapsed early. Just two wins in the league phase and out by January. For a club of their stature, it was a failure that still hangs in the air.

They are not among the favourites for this year’s crown, but they have more than enough quality to reach the knockouts. Arsenal know that. Ignore it at your peril.

Allegri’s challenge and a reshaped Napoli

The squad tells its own story: talent, experience, but a hole at centre-forward that refuses to go away.

Victor Osimhen departed for Turkey two seasons ago. This summer, Romelu Lukaku followed the same route, also heading to Turkey. Napoli have moved to plug the gap with Rasmus Højlund from Manchester United, a signing that raises eyebrows more for curiosity than fear. He joins a core that already features his former United teammate Scott McTominay and Manchester City great Kevin de Bruyne.

On paper, that spine carries quality, know-how, and a history of big nights in Europe. On the pitch, it still needs a reliable goalscorer to emerge.

The bigger question, though, sits on the touchline.

Massimiliano Allegri took charge after Antonio Conte’s exit at the end of the 2025/26 season. Allegri’s CV in Serie A is formidable, but his last league title came with Juventus in 2018/19. That gap is starting to feel heavy. This job is about more than stabilising after Conte; it’s about proving he can still shape a champion in the modern game.

Can he harness a squad in flux, replace the goals that walked out the door, and turn domestic pedigree into European relevance? That is the storyline that will run through Napoli’s season, starting with the visit of the Premier League champions.

History, absences, and the edge of a new campaign

Arsenal’s record against Napoli is strong: three wins and one defeat across their four previous meetings. It offers comfort, but not a guarantee. Not in a stadium like this, not on a night like this.

Napoli’s summer business underlines the scale of their rebuild:

Incomings:

• Rasmus Højlund (Manchester United)
• Alisson Santos (Sporting)
• Vanja Milinković-Savić (Torino)
• Benoît Badiashile (loan from Chelsea)
• Costantino Favasuli (Catanzaro)
• Mattia Esposito (Sorrento)
• Dinis Rodrigues (FC Sion)

Departures:

• Miguel Gutiérrez (Leverkusen)
• Giovanni Simeone (Torino)
• Romelu Lukaku (Fenerbahçe)
• Alessandro Zanoli (Udinese)
• Luis Hasa (Frosinone)
• Walid Cheddira (Avellino)
• Alessio Zerbi (Frosinone)

They will also be without several players through injury: Alessandro Buongiorno (knee), Luca Marianucci (ligament), Scott McTominay (arrhythmia), and Giovani (hernia). Important absences, especially in a game where control and composure will be vital.

For Arsenal, the task is brutally simple: start fast, set the tone, and remind Europe why they came within touching distance of the trophy last season. The Champions League does not forgive slow burners.

The stage

• WHO: Arsenal at Napoli
• WHAT: Champions League league phase, matchday 1
• WHEN: Wednesday, September 9th, 3:00pm EST / 12:00pm PST / 8:00pm GMT
• WHERE: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples
• HOW TO WATCH: Streaming on Paramount+ and Prime Video

The last time Arsenal climbed this mountain, they slipped just short of the summit. Now they stand at the foot of it again, with the scars of Budapest and the belief that this, finally, could be the year they finish the climb.