Arsenal’s Dominance: De Bruyne Calls Them the Best Team
Kevin De Bruyne didn’t bother dressing it up. Beaten, frustrated, still breathing heavily from the night’s work in Naples, he looked straight down the camera and called Arsenal what many have been thinking for months.
“The best team in the world.”
At the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Arsenal opened their Champions League campaign with the kind of controlled, ruthless performance that has become their calling card under Mikel Arteta. It took just one goal – a crisp finish from captain Martin Odegaard – to separate them from Napoli, but the gap in certainty, in clarity, felt larger.
A 1-0 away win to start Europe’s biggest competition. Five wins from five to open the season. The champions of England moving like a side that has no intention of slowing down.
Arsenal’s authority, Odegaard’s moment
The game never turned into a shootout. Arsenal didn’t need it to. They managed the tempo, took the sting out of the crowd, and waited for the right opening.
When it came, Odegaard was there. The Norwegian, who has grown into the role of captain with a quiet steel, delivered again, his goal deciding a tight contest and underlining the difference between a very good team and a truly elite one.
This is the same Arsenal that ended a 20-year wait for a Premier League title last season. The same group that went all the way to the Champions League final, only to lose on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain. The scars from that night are still fresh, but they seem to be driving, not dragging, this team.
Here, in southern Italy, they looked like a side intent on going back to that stage – and finishing the job.
De Bruyne’s verdict from the other side
For Kevin De Bruyne, now wearing Napoli colours but forever tied to his Manchester City legacy, the defeat stung. Yet he didn’t hide behind excuses when speaking to CBS Sports after the match.
The interviewer put the idea to him directly: Napoli had played well, but were they simply up against “perhaps the best team in the world right now”?
“I agree,” De Bruyne said, as reported by English newspaper Metro. “They are the champions of England and lost the last Champions League final on penalties, so we know how strong they are.”
That’s not a throwaway compliment. De Bruyne has spent years trading titles and records with this Arsenal side from the blue half of Manchester. He knows what a dominant team looks like. He’s helped build one. So when he labels Arsenal in those terms, it carries weight.
Napoli’s fight, and a hint of progress
De Bruyne refused to write off Napoli’s display. He saw reasons to be encouraged, even in defeat.
“I think we actually put in a good performance,” he said. “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 was the story of Napoli’s night: flashes of threat, spells of resistance, but long periods spent pinned back, trying to survive Arsenal’s pressure. When they did break forward, they carved out moments that hinted at what this Napoli side could become as the season settles.
De Bruyne picked up on that too.
“But then we had some good moments again,” he 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.”
It’s a small step, but a visible one. Napoli didn’t crumble. They competed. Against this Arsenal, that matters.
A statement that echoes beyond Naples
For Arsenal, the win in Naples is more than three points. It’s a continuation of a story that began with last season’s title and that agonising night against PSG. Arteta’s side look hardened by success and failure alike, more ruthless, more mature.
They have already shown they can dominate England. Now they are back in Europe, walking into hostile stadiums and emerging with clean sheets, captain’s goals and the respect of one of the finest midfielders of his generation.
De Bruyne left the pitch empty-handed. Arsenal left with the result, the momentum, and a label that no team wears lightly.
“The best team in the world”? The season will decide. But right now, they are playing like a club determined to prove him right.
