Napoli vs Arsenal; UEFA Champions League
Napoli vs Arsenal. UEFA Champions League.
Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli 0-1 Arsenal: Martin Odegaard goal clinches win for dominant Gunners in Champions League opener
Report as Martin Odegaard's goal ensures a 1-0 win for Arsenal in their Champions League league phase opener against Napoli; Mikel Arteta's side dominated but wasted chances through Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and others before Odegaard's winner
Wednesday 9 September 2026 22:53, UK
Martin Odegaard's superb strike gave Arsenal a deserved 1-0 victory over Napoli in their Champions League opener.
The Gunners should have won by a bigger margin but missed a succession of chances before Odegaard crashed a low shot in off the post from the edge of the box following intricate build-up.
The goal, Odegaard's fourth in five games this season, ensured a winning start for last season's runners-up in this competition but wasteful finishing made it harder than it should have been.
Arsenal attempted 26 shots, their most on record in a Champions League game, worth a whopping 4.05 expected goals but Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka spurned their best chances of the first half before Piero Hincapie blazed over from close range in the second.
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Odegaard's goal, fired in following a quick one-two with substitute Christos Tzolis, finally broke the deadlock but Noni Madueke, another substitute, missed a one-on-one chance with Tzolis's follow-up blocked on the line, leaving Arsenal to suffer a late scare.
Former Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne appeared well placed to equalise when put through for a rare Napoli chance in the final few minutes, but wasted the chance by opting to cross, ensuring Arsenal could celebrate a victorious start to their European campaign and a fifth straight win of the season in all competitions.
The key moments in Naples
- 22 SAVE! Eberechi Eze heads a Saka cross back across goal but Merino's header is parried
- 29: SLICE! Arsenal create another great opening but Saka fails to connect properly with his shot in the centre of the box
- 45: MISS! Odegaard plays Saka through on goal but he fires wastefully over the bar
- 50: WASTE! Odegaard lifts the ball over the top to White, whose cross finds Hincapie but the defender somehow blasts over from six yards out
- 75: AT LAST! Arsenal finally score as a slick passing move ends with Odegaard firing a low shot into the corner
- 85 SAVE! Kai Havertz puts Noni Madueke through on the counter but his shot is saved before Tzolis sees his follow-up effort blocked
- 89: SCARE! De Bruyne looks well placed to equalise but chooses to cross instead of shoot and wastes the chance
Odegaard reinvigorated for Arsenal
Odegaard is a player in form. That much was clear from early in this game. The Arsenal captain oozed class and confidence, demanding the ball then finding the gaps in Napoli's defence and threading passes forward. Everything went through him.
His goal, brilliantly taken from the edge of the box after a 29-pass build-up, proved crucial. He now has four in five games this season, a stunning turnaround having only managed one in 36 last term. Odegaard, uninhibited by injuries, looks a different player.
But showing his team-mates how to finish was only one part of his performance. He also ended the game having had more touches, made more passes and created more chances than anyone else on the pitch. Napoli couldn't really get near him.
The scooped pass to release Ben White for the golden chance somehow spurned by Piero Hincapie was one of many examples of his ingenuity against the massed ranks of Napoli players but there were plenty of others. He played with freedom and flair.
"Martin is contributing goals," said Mikel Arteta after the game. "That is obviously impacting results which is what we want from our attacking players, to be decisive, and certainly he was that today." Arsenal continue to feel the benefits.
Arteta: We should have scored more
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to TNT Sports: "Fully deserved for the three points.
"I don't know the amount of chances and situations we generated but the performance doesn't reflect the result. It should have been much bigger - in a really tough environment, a really tough opponent. I think the team was superb.
"The way we competed, attitude, courage, the way we imposed ourselves on the game, the quality we showed to break them down, which is very difficult to do. It was a shame because we missed so many big chances.
"That's great that a lot of very different players got in those situations. Any other day the result [score] would be different."
Yet another clean sheet for Arsenal
- Arsenal have won their last 13 group stage games in the Champions League, the second-longest run in the competition's history after Bayern Munich (17 between December 2020 and November 2023).
- Arsenal have kept 20 clean sheets in 40 Champions League games under Mikel Arteta, four more than any other side since the start of 2023/24.
- Arsenal's 26 shots against Napoli was their most on record (since 2003/04) in a single Champions League match, while it was also the most Napoli have ever faced in the competition.
- There were 29 passes in the build-up to Arsenal's winner, their second-most on record (since 2003/04) for Champions League goal (33 for Lucas Perez's second at Basel in December 2016).
