Zero corners, 26 shots faced: Napoli never really played

Napoli's 42% possession told a false story. Arsenal had 26 shots to Napoli's 5, 8 on target to 3, and six corners to Napoli's zero. This wasn't a narrow defeat - it was one-way traffic. The scoreline stayed at 0-1 only because Napoli's goalkeeper made 6 saves, twice as many as Raya's 3 at the other end, not because Napoli held their own.

Arsenal answered with the right substitutions at the right time: Guimarães and Tzolis at 66', Havertz and Madueke at 73'. The fresh legs told: at 75' Tzolis set up Odegaard for the goal. Napoli reacted with Neres and Lucca at 77', but by then the game was already decided - changes made after the fact, not before. Lucca was booked at 85', a fitting close to a night his side never really confronted going forward.

This was a Champions League matchday, a separate competition - it doesn't touch Napoli's Serie A table, where they sit 12th on 3 points for entirely different reasons. But the performance stands on its own, and it puts a direct question to Allegri: a setup that produces zero corners and five shots against opposition of this calibre isn't just bad luck, it's a choice, and it showed clearly on the pitch. Bologna visit the Maradona on Saturday 12 September in Serie A, where the table really does matter. That's where the real answer will have to come.