Amy Lawrence was at the Stadio San Paolo tonight. Her report has just landed, and here it is. Enjoy! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Post-match player interviews
Laurent Koscielny: “We came here with ambition, we wanted to win, to score some goals. We did it, and kept a clean sheet as well, which is important for the confidence. It is important for the rest of the season. We are happy with qualification for the semi-final. Napoli have played in the Champions League this season, they are a good team, but we did a job on them at home. We fought together, it is good for the team.”
Alexandre Lacazette: “I have been practising that free kick in training. My team-mates believe in me, and I’m happy I scored it tonight.”
Arsenal’s opponent in the semis will be Valencia, who have beaten Villarreal 2-0 (agg: 5-1). Meanwhile pity poor Rob ‘Fingers’ Smyth, who has had quite a goalfest to report on tonight, straight off the back of last night’s lunacy at the Etihad: Chelsea made heavy work of Slavia Prague, beating them 4-3; that’s a 5-3 win for Maurizio Sarri’s side on aggregate. Smyth’s keyboard must be ground to dust. Chelsea will face Eintracht Frankfurt, who saw off Benfica 2-0 tonight, winning on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw. An all-England final in Azerbaijan is on!
FULL TIME: Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (agg: 0-3)
Nothing happens in added-on time, and that’s just fine by Arsenal! They did a number on Napoli tonight and thoroughly deserve to progress to the semi-finals of the Europa League!
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90 min: A yellow card for Callejon, who takes a wild swipe at Kolasinac’s ankles. There will be three more minutes of this.
88 min: The clock ticks on. Everyone wants to go home.
86 min: Incidentally, Elneny came on for Xhaka a few minutes ago.
85 min: Another Napoli corner. They’ve won enough of them, but none of them have bothered Cech. This one doesn’t either, Koulibaly’s header flashing well wide left.
83 min: Iwobi romps down the left and finds Aubameyang just inside. Mkhitaryan is free in the box, but Aubameyang can’t see him. He plays the ball back to Iwobi, who curls powerfully round Meret and off the inside of the post, his shot clattering back into the keeper. But it’s immaterial, because the flag’s gone up for offside.
82 min: Napoli win a corner but it’s a waste of time. “By Steven Hallett’s reckoning, if Arsenal move to the South Sandwich Islands (7610 miles) they’ll win the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Stanley Cup, the Masters, and Six Nations, and much more besides,” suggests Andrew Benton. “Do balls spin the opposite way in the Southern hemisphere?”
80 min: So having said that, Rui crosses from the left. Koscielny fresh-air swipes at his clearance, and Monreal, surprised and facing the wrong way, absolutely welts the ball straight at Cech. Anywhere else, and that was a farcical own goal, but the keeper is able to catch and spare his colleague’s blushes.
79 min: There really isn’t much going on. This has been an extremely impressive performance from Arsenal, who have been the bosses of Napoli pretty much from the off.
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77 min: Torreira is down having taken a whack upside the head. Ooyah oof.
76 min: Rui reaches the byline down the left but his cross is too long. He’s been effective since coming on.
74 min: Cech is booked for time-wasting, which seems a bit unnecessary given the state of the tie.
73 min: Rui doesn’t take too long to get involved. He strides down the left and rolls a cross in to the feet of Milik, who should slam home from close range but instead overruns the ball, which clanks off his ankle and harmlessly away.
71 min: Mario Rui comes on for Ghoulam. “Perhaps it is just Arsenal’s away form in England,” argues Steven Hallett. “By this logic, if all away games were played at least 1283.5 miles away (according to Google, the distance from Napoli to London) then they would win the league. With this in mind, Arsenal need to move to Gibraltar. This way they can still be in the Premier League being members of an English territory, but also not suffer from the pandemonium that they suffer in the five-mile to less than 1283.5-mile range when playing away. Done. Next I’m off to sort out Man U. Saving Real Madrid for next week.”
69 min: Iwobi comes on for Lacazette. Here’s Matthew Turner: “Just to repeat and amplify Mac Millings’ confusion, Napoli can be quite a dangerous team and are known for scoring some nice goals. Arsenal are a team that are, uh ... not known for stopping other teams from scoring goals. What gives?”
67 min: Koulibaly goes up for a header in the Arsenal box. Sokratis clears. Koulibaly falls over, and Koscielny accidentally stands on his head. Koulibaly springs up, furious, and takes Sokratis to task for it. Sokratis tries to calm Koulibaly down. He eventually manages it, but it takes a while.
65 min: Napoli take a few shots from various angles. None hit the target.
63 min: Insigne has positioned himself on the touchline, arms crossed tightly, watching the action. He is fuming. As for Younes ... well now I can’t stop thinking about Stan Ogden. I can’t help it.
61 min: That’s Insigne’s last contribution of the evening. He leaves in high dudgeon, hooked for Amin Younes.
60 min: A long pass down the inside-left channel for Insigne to chase. He gets ahead of Maitland-Niles and scoots into the box, but his chest-down and poke goalwards is as weak as milky tea. Cech slakes his thirst. “From what I understand, if Millings’ pockets are deep enough, a scudetto shouldn’t be a problem,” claims Matt Dony. “And the look on Ronaldo’s fizzog as Watford climbed above Juve in the league would be worth every dirty penny.”
58 min: Lacazette threatens to break clear down the inside-left channel. Chiriches extends a leg and concedes a corner. The ball’s hit deep towards Aubameyang, who slaps a weak shot towards the bottom right from a tight angle. Meret makes a nine-course tasting menu of kicking it clear. That was all very strange, performed at slow motion by both players. It’s almost as though this second half has already turned into a de facto training session.
56 min: Maitland-Niles rather needlessly puts a Callejon right-wing cross out for a corner. The ball’s worked back up the left to Zielinski, who plays a diagonal ball towards Koulibaly at the far post. Koulibaly heads across the face of goal for Mertens, who chests the ball over the line, but Koulibaly was a mile offside, and the flag goes up accordingly. Napoli don’t bother to argue the toss.
55 min: Arsenal seem happy to sit back and let Napoli pass it around. Because the Gunners are holding their shape, while the hosts are going nowhere.
53 min: Insigne is working hard down this left flank, but nothing’s coming off for him. He’s nearly found by Ruiz after making a very clever run, but Maitland-Niles cuts the ball out. Then Insigne crosses deep for Milik, but that’s easy pickings for Cech.
51 min: Aubameyang threatens to burst down the left but decides to stop and showboat instead. Think an extremely diluted version of Jim Baxter at Wembley in 1967.
49 min: The resulting corner leads to nothing. Meanwhile “what’s happening here?” is a question that Mac Millings finds himself asking a lot. And he’s asking it again, right here, right now. “What’s happening here? My heavenly Hornets gave Arsenal a right ten-man, 0-1 chasing the other day. The Gunners were awful. Do you think the Pozzo family could pull a few strings, and get Watford into Serie A? Because we’re not winning the Premier League any time ever, but I’d settle for a scudetto or two.”
48 min: This is pretty much all over, but it should be really all over now. Lacazette sends Mkhitaryan into space down the right. Mkhitaryan rolls a pass into the centre for Aubameyang, who only has Meret to beat. And he doesn’t. He slams his shot too close to the keeper, who saves spectacularly well, but should never have been given the chance to do so. What a chance to put Arsenal, already a speck on the horizon, totally out of sight.
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47 min: Insigne powers his way down the left and cuts a ball abck for Ruiz, who lashes a wild effort miles over the bar. But that was as good an attack as Napoli have launched this evening. Arsenal won’t want to give them a sniff.
And we’re off again! Arsenal get the second half underway. They’ve made no changes. But Napoli have replaced Nikola Maksimovic with Dries Mertens. Will it be enough? Simon McMahon suggests not: “I think Napoli will need to get Maradona into that No.10 shirt for the second half to have any chance of progressing from this tie.”
Half-time task. It only takes three or four seconds, so why not sign up for this?
HALF TIME: Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (agg: 0-3)
There’s just enough time for Kolasinac and Callejon to come together as the pair chase a ball down the middle towards the Arsenal box. There is a bit of contact, a nudge from behind by Kolasinac, and Callejon makes the most of it. But the referee isn’t interested. The whistle goes. Callejon and Koulibaly get up in the referee’s grille and instigate a robust exchange of views. Napoli’s heads have gone; Arsenal walk off contentedly.
45 min +3: Napoli have a throw deep in Arsenal territory. Koscielny stalls them by taking off a boot and putting it back on again. The hosts are livid with the brazen timewasting. A frustrated Allan then runs the ball out of play down the right.
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45 min +2: Zielinksi shoots. Deflection. Corner. The ball bounces around in the Arsenal box, and rears up on Lacazette. Napoli demand a penalty for handball, but they’re not getting one.
45 min +1: There will be four added minutes, a result of Ramsey’s hamstring injury. What Napoli would give to grab something back before half-time. Three second-half goals would still be a tall order, but four seems a pipe dream.
45 min: From the left-hand side of his box, Cech clanks a dismal drop kick straight to Zielinski in the centre circle. Zielinski tries to return it into the goal, which is momentarily unguarded. Zielinski doesn’t catch it properly, and Cech can gather. Then he offers the hand of apology to his team-mates.
43 min: Napoli’s frustration is betrayed by Insigne, who tries to handle his way past a midfield challenge then, when the whistle goes for a free kick, blooters the ball away in extreme annoyance. A booking is inevitable.
42 min: Insigne dribbles down the left and loops long for Callejon, who tries to letissier a smooth volley from the edge of the box. He slices it well wide.
41 min: A high ball into the Arsenal box from the left. Callejon tries to guide a header goalwards but it’s always flying miles over the bar. Napoli, that one counter attack apart, have been dismal. Cech has had next to nothing to do.
39 min: Space for Lacazette down the left. He curls a low pass towards Aubameyang at the far post. Aubameyang can’t quite connect. The ball nearly nestles in the far corner anyway, but squeaks past the post. Aubameyang smiles and raises a thumb to his partner. Arsenal are enjoying themselves.
38 min: The stadium - which is far from full - has just about fallen silent. You could hear Arsenal’s players whoop in delight as they cavorted in celebration of Lacazette’s free kick. Napoli seem stunned. Kolasinac nearly bursts past Callejon down the left but commits a stupid foul and the pressure’s off the hosts.
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GOAL! Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (Lacazette 36); agg 0-3
Lacazette gets up and takes it himself. And what a hit! He whips it round the wall and into the top right. But what was Meret doing? His feet were planted, he made no effort whatsoever to dive for the ball. Completely flummoxed! He was leaning the other way, and couldn’t check his momentum. Arsenal have their away goal, and now Napoli need four!
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35 min: Mkhitaryan’s first act is to set Lacazette running towards the Napoli box. The striker’s upended by Zielinski. A free kick in a central position, 25 yards out.
34 min: Ramsey is the picture of frustration as he limps off. Mkhitaryan, who won this competition a couple of years ago with Manchester United, comes on to make his 50th appearance for Arsenal. To be fair, that’s not a bad deputy to bring on.
32 min: Ramsey sits down. He’s just challenged Zielinski for a waist-high bouncing ball, and pulled up holding his left hamstring. This doesn’t look good for Arsenal’s main man.
30 min: This is good fun. Lacazette dribbles into the Napoli box from the left and is dispossessed. Allan drives up the other end but is checked by Maitland-Niles. Arsenal counter the counter, Ramsey teeing up Aubameyang to the right of the D. The striker hits a first-time volley that he doesn’t quite catch with enough power, and it sails straight down Meret’s throat.
28 min: Koscielny is lumbering deep, playing everyone on as Zielinski sends a cross in from the left. The ball drops to Milik, who has to at least get his header on target, but in attempting to plant it into the top left, sends it miserably wide. Napoli are beginning to ask questions, though.
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26 min: Xhaka tries to go past Zielinksi and is blocked for his trouble. A clash of knees which requires him to roll about a bit. He’ll be good to go in a few seconds. And indeed he’s up again. Moving on.
24 min: Major Ancelotti’s army nearly reap the benefit of all that marching up and down the square. Their first period of possession in Arsenal’s half. And then Insigne dinks a cute ball down the inside-left channel, releasing Milik into the area. Milik dinks delicately over Cech and into the net, but he’s rightly flagged for offside. Still, what a finish.
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22 min: The first lull of the match as Kolasinac goes down requiring a soaking from the magic sponge. He’s soon up and about again. “There’s something pleasingly military about Carlo Ancellotti in the technical area,” opines Charles Antaki. “He looks like a major called out of the officers’ mess to cast his eye over a bunch of adjutants making too much noise on the parade ground.”
20 min: This is a lovely open game, and goodness knows who’s going to score first. Callejon makes a nuisance of himself down the inside-right channel and very nearly threads a pass to Insigne on the edge of the box. But Arsenal clear.
18 min: And then it’s Arsenal racing up the other end! Aubameyang zips down the right wing, with Napoli very light at the back. He hooks low towards the centre, in the hope of setting up Lacazette for a tap-in, but Maksimovic is on hand to block the cross. Napoli clear their lines.
17 min: Good work by Kolasinac down the left to win a corner. Torreira takes long, but Ruiz robs Aubameyang and suddenly Napoli are racing upfield on the break! Koulibaly, on the left, sprays a fine diagonal pass towards Callejon, who enters the Arsenal box and batters towards the bottom right. Cech does very well to kick it out for a corner, from which nothing happens.
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15 min: Ghoulam launches a monster throw down the left flank. It nearly releases Insigne, who tries to diddle Maitland-Niles with a gorgeous spin, but the Arsenal man reads the situation and doesn’t buy the dummy.
13 min: Napoli have yet to put a coherent attack together. Already they look a bit nervous. The crowd certainly sound edgy. It’s a bit early to start panicking. “Wholeheartedly agree about the new badge not having quite the impact of the old,” begins Dan Fermi. “As I recall, it was revamped because no one owned the copyright on it, and of course in these heady days, that would be missing a trick. To be fair, though, the old one was a bit tricky to draw on one’s bag when one was a schoolboy.”
11 min: This is all Arsenal. Kolasinac is sent into space down the left by Ramsey’s cute flick. He powers down the flank but overruns the ball into touch. Arsenal keep threatening to get in behind Napoli, but the final pass has been lacking so far. All very promising for the Gunners.
9 min: Xhaka and Lacazette combine well down the inside-left channel, nearly opening Napoli up. Not quite. Then another phase of attack, as Ramsey chases a long ball down the inside-left channel. He clatters into Maksimovic and demands a penalty, but he’s not getting it. It would have been very soft, though there was a little contact after Ramsey had miscontrolled the ball. Ramsey’s not happy.
8 min: Xhaka delivers with plenty of whip, causing Meret to panic and punch clear. The ball lands at the feet of Ramsey, who shoots through a thicket. The effort deflects harmlessly wide right; goal kick. But Arsenal have started strongly here, and are pressing Napoli back. A lot of whistling.
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7 min: Maitland-Niles probes down the right, checks back, and is upended clumsily by Ghoulam. A free kick that’s basically a corner. From which ...
5 min: Ramsey has a little dribble across the front of the Napoli box. He doesn’t manage to get a shot away, but it’s enough to irritate the crowd, who are now aware that Arsenal are here and will be making life as difficult as possible for the hosts. Meanwhile Anita Mulinder thinks we should give Sokratis the benefit of the doubt with his choice of bevvy. “He needs something stronger to wash the kettlebell down with.” She’s here all week, ladies and gentlemen. Try the thin pizza.
3 min: Arsenal touch the ball! And win a free kick out on the left. Xhaka hoicks it high towards the far post, and Kolasinac manages to hook it back into the middle from the byline to the right of goal. But Koulibaly is positioned perfectly to clear. A brisk start!
2 min: Arsenal haven’t touched the ball yet. They’re playing in red shorts and frankly it looks wrong.
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And we’re off! Within 20 seconds, Zielinksi is romping down the left. He pulls a ball back for Insigne, who tries to feed Callejon down the right instead of shooting. A heavy pass results in a goal kick. Napoli with the desire they need to show this evening, early doors.
The teams are out! Napoli are in their blue shirts, ruined by over elaborate patterns and a neon-green trim. They’re an appalling mess, to be honest, a horrible sickly reminder of all those garish 1990s change shirts. Such a shame because their kit is usually a peach. Anyway, there’s a rare old atmosphere in the Stadio San Paolo, like that’s breaking news. A sea of flags. Noise. We’ll be off in a minute! “Put Sokratis’s choice of beverage aside for a moment,” insists Brian Russell. “What on earth are those brown slip-on shoes doing in his cubby hole? That’s the real story.” I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest they’re old-gold loafers. That sounds a little bit better, doesn’t it.
Unai Emery speaks. He wanted to score more goals last week, but it was also important not to concede an away goal, and they managed that. They want to score today, to win today. They are ready for anything that can happen. They are going to use their heart, but also their head.
A brief peek inside the Arsenal sanctum. As you can see, they’ll be playing in their famous first-choice shirts tonight. Everyone apart from Sokratis has some bottles of pink isotonic bevvy lined up. Sokratis has two red cans to get through instead. Not sure what’s in them. Coke comes in a red can. So does McEwan’s Export. Perhaps it’s McEwan’s Export. Laurent Koscielny has a nice enough pennant to hand over, but you can only prise so much gravitas out of that badge. Such a shame they got rid of 1949’s Victoria Concordia Crescit number, but I suppose I’m behind the times. Speaking of which, the dressing room has that sparse but fully functional feel of a 1960s municipal building about it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ll level with you, kick-off can’t come soon enough.
Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti has made three changes to the team named for the first leg. Former Tottenham defender Vlad Chiriches comes in along with Faouzi Ghoulam and Arkadiusz Milik. Dropping to the bench: Mario Rui, Dries Mertens and Elseid Hysaj.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery makes just one change from the first leg. Mesut Ozil drops to the bench, making way for the much more defensive-minded Granit Xhaka.
The teams
Napoli: Meret, Maksimovic, Chiriches, Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Callejon, Allan, Fabian, Zielinski, Milik, Insigne.
Subs: Ospina, Malcuit, Rui, Verdi, Mertens, Hysaj, Younes.
Arsenal: Cech, Papastathopoulos, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ramsey, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Leno, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Mustafi, Guendouzi.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania).
Preamble
For those of you fond of a correct-score prediction ... here are the results of all the previous matches played between these two clubs.
Arsenal 2-0 Napoli (1 Oct 2013)
Napoli 2-0 Arsenal (11 Dec 2013)
Arsenal 2-0 Napoli (11 April 2019)
Lump on, lump on. Extra time and penalties, here we come!
But Unai Emery’s increasingly confident men will be hopeful of sealing the deal long before that. Arsenal have won on five of their last nine visits to Italy, the most recent triumph coming at AC Milan last season, 2-0 en route to a 5-1 aggregate Europa League round of 16 victory. An away goal snaffled tonight would surely send them into the semis for the second year in a row.
That’s no small ask, though. Napoli are unbeaten at home in Europe this year, winning four out of five, conceding just two goals. They’ve won five of their seven home fixtures against English opposition. And you may recall them giving Liverpool all manner of problems in the Champions League groups earlier this season, both home and away.
So it should be a fine battle as second in Serie A take on fourth in the Premier League. A place in the semi-finals of the 2018/19 Europa League is at stake. It’s on!
Kick off: 9pm in Naples, 8pm BST.
