Allegri Hails ‘Great’ Arsenal After Napoli Champions League Defeat

Napoli manager Massimiliano Allegri has praised Arsenal as a “great team” after his side suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Gunners in their Champions League opener on Wednesday night.

Martin Odegaard scored the decisive goal in the 75th minute at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, settling a game dominated by Arsenal.

The visitors created several clear chances before finding the breakthrough, with Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie and Noni Madueke all missing good opportunities.

Arsenal finished the match with 26 shots, compared with Napoli’s five, and limited the hosts to an expected goals figure of just 0.22. David Raya also had little to do as Arsenal’s defence kept Napoli from creating significant opportunities throughout the game.

Allegri admitted Napoli struggled to match Arsenal but praised the Premier League side for their performance.

“Arsenal are a great team. We needed to be patient in not conceding,” he told Sky Sport. “We raised our level. We could’ve not conceded, and we could’ve scored.

“We need to analyse our mistakes. The first half we could’ve done better on a technical level.

“But Arsenal put in a great performance to be able to score. They are a great side.”

Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo also recognised Arsenal’s quality and urged his team to learn from the defeat as they look ahead to their remaining Champions League fixtures.

“They are a fantastic side. We had some potential chances and could have done better. There are seven other games still,” he said.

“We have to keep working hard and avoid certain mistakes in the future.”