Arsenal got their Champions League campaign up and running with a win against Napoli, with Mikel Arteta thrilled with the performance. The post ‘Superb’ Arsenal should have beaten Napoli by more, says Arteta appeared first on SoccerNews.
Liverpool began their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 comeback win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, giving new manager Andoni Iraola a winning start in Europe's top competition. Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Arsenal also opened their campaigns with victories as the tournament's leading clubs got off the mark.
Mikel Arteta during Arsenal’s win over Napoli (Picture: Getty) Mikel Arteta was seen ‘raging’ at three of his players during Arsenal’s Champions League win over Napoli. The Gunners won all eight of their European league phase games last season and made an impressive start to this season’s campaign, beating Napoli 1-0 in Italy. Arsenal were the better side throughout but it looked as though their wastefulness in front of goal would cost them the three points until in-form Martin Odegaard popped up with a 75th-minute winner. Arteta was impressed with his team’s performance out in Naples and said his only disappointment was their inability to kill the game off sooner. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. ‘We fully deserved the three points,’ Arteta told TNT Sports after the game. ‘The performance probably doesn’t reflect the result, the team was superb. ‘We showed quality in a lot of moments to break them down and it was a shame because we missed so many great chances. ‘On any other day the result would be different. We should have done it in a different way because of the amount of chances we created but we got the win in the end.’ Martin Odegaard fired Arsenal past Napoli (Picture: Getty) On Odegaard’s latest influential performance, Arteta added: ‘Martin is contributing with goals that are impacting results which is what we want from our attacking players. ‘We want them to be decisive and certainly he was again today.’ While Arteta returned to north London a happy man, he was left ‘absolutely raging’ at three of his players as they looked to kill the game off. Odegaard celebrates Arsenal’s European win (Picture: Getty) Arsenal wasted a glorious chance to score a second late on and TNT Sports co-commentator Lucy Ward noticed Arteta screaming at Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Christos Tzolis to track back as Napoli attempted to counter. ‘Mikel Arteta was absolutely raging on the sidelines that Havertz, Madueke and Tzolis weren’t recovering after that attack,’ she said. ‘It was so interesting. As the Arsenal attack finished, those three all sort of ambled back, and Mikel Arteta ran down the sidelines and shouted at them to recover.’ “We missed so many big chances”Mikel Arteta shares his thoughts after Arsenal’s victory over Napoli 💭🎙️ @DannyJamieson | 📺 Watch live on TNT Sports & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/v559rbRAj0— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 9, 2026 Arsenal, who reached the Champions League final last season while lifting the Premier League trophy, have now won all five of their first games of the 2026-27 campaign. Assessing Arsenal’s performance against Italian giants Napoli, Arteta added: ‘I’m very, very happy. ‘A really tough place to come and a really different environment to play football – a beautiful one, by the way – against a really good team. ‘I love the way we attacked the game, the way we competed, the hunger that we showed, the desire to dominate, to come here, to own the pitch, and the quality that we showed against a team that it’s so difficult to create chances against. ‘We created a huge amount of them and the result doesn’t reflect what we saw on the pitch. ‘The players were immense, and to play with that personality, with that conviction and with that quality in the Champions League away from home, it’s something that I’m extremely pleased about.’ Arsenal’s next Champions League fixture is against Ligue 1 side Lille after the upcoming international break. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
Playing away in the Champions League, it is always going to be tough, but I think with Gyokeres, you can feel the difference when he is playing compared to when Kai Havertz is. "Arsenal created chances before that and Gyokeres created a chance or two himself, but Arsenal just felt like a different team when Havertz was in there, maybe because there were some more familiar faces coming on to the pitch as well, the likes of Christos Tzolis and so on, but they looked different and it felt different, it felt more familiar."
Former England international Joe Cole has lavished praise on Martin Ødegaard after the Arsenal captain delivered yet another match-winning goal in a commanding 1-0 Champions League victory against Napoli. The Norwegian playmaker produced a moment of magic from the edge of the penalty box to break the deadlock and secure three vital away points for […] The post “You can’t help but love watching him”: Joe Cole singles out Arsenal star with praise after Napoli win appeared first on CaughtOffside.
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