Kevin De Bruyne Calls Arsenal the Best Team in the World After Napoli Defeat
Arsenal’s Champions League return to Italy came with a familiar edge: control, composure and a single, ruthless moment of quality.
Martin Odegaard’s crisp finish settled a tight 1-0 win over Napoli on Wednesday night, extending Mikel Arteta’s side’s flawless start to the season to five victories from five. It was the type of performance that doesn’t just win points. It wins respect.
One of the modern game’s sharpest football minds offered exactly that.
De Bruyne’s verdict: “Best team in the world”
Speaking after the match, Kevin De Bruyne did not bother dressing the night up as anything other than what it was: a meeting with an elite machine.
Asked on CBS Sports whether Napoli had just faced “perhaps the best team in the world right now,” the Manchester City icon did not hesitate.
“I agree, they are the champions of England and lost the last Champions League final on penalties, so we know how strong they are,” he said, as reported by English newspaper Metro.
There was no bitterness in his tone, just the blunt realism of a player who has spent years battling Arsenal for domestic and European supremacy. They took his trophy last season. They almost took Europe’s as well.
Arsenal ended a 20-year wait for a Premier League title last term, lifting the trophy for the first time since 2004. They then pushed all the way to the Champions League final, only to fall to Paris Saint-Germain in a penalty shootout. Those scars have not dulled their edge. If anything, they have sharpened it.
Arsenal’s authority, Napoli’s response
In Naples, that edge showed again. Arsenal were not spectacular for 90 minutes. They did not need to be.
They managed the tempo, trusted their structure and waited for their captain to provide the decisive touch. Odegaard did exactly that, guiding home the winner and underlining his growing habit of defining big European nights.
Napoli, though, did not fold.
“I think we actually put in a good performance,” De Bruyne reflected. “When we tried to play, we had some moments where we created chances, and of course we had to sit back at times, and in the second half we gave them a lot of chances, we were very deep.”
That admission told its own story. Napoli were forced back, pinned into their own half for spells, yet still found pockets to threaten. The gap in pedigree was clear, but this was no surrender.
The pressure from Arsenal grew after the break. Arteta’s side began to find more space between the lines, more runners in behind, more shots at goal. Napoli clung on, then occasionally punched back.
“But then we had some good moments again,” De Bruyne added. “And for me that is an improvement on what I saw in the first few matches. We have started to play better, and that is a good thing.”
Arsenal look built for the long haul
For Arsenal, this felt like a continuation rather than a fresh start. Champions of England, Champions League finalists, now opening a new European campaign with an away win against a dangerous Napoli side. The pattern is becoming familiar.
They look ready to go the distance on two fronts again. The domestic title defence. Another crack at the trophy that slipped away on penalties.
For Napoli and De Bruyne, there is frustration, but also a platform. They went toe-to-toe, survived long stretches under pressure and still carved out chances against a side their own playmaker now calls “the best team in the world.”
If this is what Napoli can do while still “starting to play better,” as De Bruyne put it, what happens when they hit full stride in this Champions League campaign?
