Napoli face Arsenal at the Maradona on Wednesday in Champions League opener

The 3-2 defeat at San Siro is still fresh, but from Sunday the competition changes: the Champions League is a separate tournament, and Napoli's campaign starts on Wednesday 9 September, when Arsenal visit the Maradona at 21:00 CET.

News from the past few days has weighed on Allegri's choices for the match. McTominay has had surgery for an arrhythmia and Giovane for a hernia: both are unavailable. Marianucci is out injured. On the positive side, Beukema has recovered, giving the defence back a player in a week when the squad is being tested on three fronts.

The mood around the team remains tense after the collapse at San Siro, and it is no coincidence that questions about Allegri and the transfer window keep coming back: a squad assembled late in the window, with more sales than signings, is now also being judged in the Champions League, where every decision made by those who built the squad is tested without excuses.

But what happens in the European competition does not add to or blend with the league table: it is its own path, with its own standings and its own verdicts.

On Wednesday at the Maradona, the first page of that path opens. Against Arsenal, only the match itself matters, and the response the team gives after a night to forget in Milan cannot be judged by another competition.