Kevin De Bruyne calls Arsenal ‘the best team in the world’ after Napoli defeat

Kevin De Bruyne described Arsenal as “the best team in the world” after the Premier League champions extended their perfect start to the season with a 1-0 Champions League victory over Napoli in Italy on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta’s side produced another impressive performance in their opening European match, with captain Martin Ødegaard scoring the only goal of the game.

The result made it five wins from five matches at the start of the campaign and strengthened the belief that Arsenal are ready to compete for both the Premier League and Champions League once again.

Arsenal won the Premier League last season for the first time since 2004 and also reached the Champions League final, where they lost to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties.

Despite Napoli’s defeat, De Bruyne felt his side had shown enough quality against one of the strongest teams in Europe. The Belgium midfielder said Napoli had “played well” in their first match of the European campaign, particularly given Arsenal’s level.

After the game, a CBS Sports reporter asked De Bruyne: “Let’s talk about the match. It seemed to me that Napoli played a really good game, but perhaps your opponents are the best team in the world at the moment?”

De Bruyne, described by Metro as a Manchester City legend, replied: “I agree. They are the champions of England and they lost the last Champions League final on penalties, so we know how strong they are.”

He added: “I think we actually played well. When we tried to play, we had some moments when we created chances. Of course, at times we had to sit back, and in the second half we gave them too many opportunities because we dropped too deep.”

Napoli managed to create further promising moments as the match progressed, but Arsenal’s control and defensive organisation allowed them to protect their lead and claim another important victory.

De Bruyne said there were encouraging signs in Napoli’s performance despite the result, particularly compared with what he had seen from the team in their earlier matches.

“But then we had some good moments again,” he said. “For me, this was an improvement on what I saw in the first few games. We have started to play better, and that is a good thing.”