Writer De Giovanni says Napoli must lose to Arsenal

The novelist delivered his verdict on Radio Napoli Centrale on the eve of the Champions League opener, but for him the game that actually matters is not Wednesday's at all — it's Bologna's visit to the Maradona.

by Gennaro SanninoTuesday 8 September, 22:20 CET· 1 hour ago

De Giovanni: «Il Napoli deve perdere con l'Arsenal» — Grafica Arena Napoli

"Napoli have to lose to Arsenal, it's not up for debate," the writer Maurizio De Giovanni told Radio Napoli Centrale on the eve of Napoli's Champions League opener on Wednesday 9 September. His reasoning starts with the gap in quality: Arsenal arrive at the Maradona as last season's Champions League runners-up and the reigning Premier League champions.

De Giovanni widened the comparison to the Inter game at San Siro. "By that logic, Napoli should have lost to Inter as well," he said. "So they play with the calm of a team that doesn't have to live up to any favourable prediction." Saturday 5 September's defeat doesn't change his reading of Arsenal. Napoli had led through Politano in the 50th minute and Højlund in the 53rd, before Inter turned it around with Martinez in the 56th, Thuram in the 82nd and Martinez again in the 90th.

For De Giovanni, the real test lies elsewhere. "On Sunday they have to beat Bologna, or they'll find themselves in the mire," he said. Bologna arrive at the Maradona on Sunday 13 September for matchday four without their head coach, Domenico Tedesco, suspended after being sent off in the 2-2 draw with Sassuolo, and with Dovbyk having found the net only in the closing stages of that game.

On the Champions League itself, De Giovanni draws a sharp hierarchy: "It's not against Arsenal that Napoli need to pick up points in the Champions League. There are three categories, maybe more, and Arsenal are among them." His real complaint lies elsewhere.

The problem is that you can't lose from 2-0 up at San Siro.

For him, the reproach was never about losing to a big side — it was about throwing away a two-goal lead already in hand.

Napoli go into this Champions League opener 12th in Serie A with 3 points from three games (one win, two defeats, five goals scored and five conceded), on the back of a home defeat to Como at the Maradona and a win in Genoa before the collapse at San Siro. Roma, Inter and Lazio lead the way on 9 points.

De Giovanni's split between the Champions League and the league campaign has a logic to it, but it leaves a question hanging. A Napoli side sitting 12th on three points may not have the margin to treat an unfavourable prediction against Arsenal as already banked, when the fragility shown at San Siro — a 2-0 lead gone within half an hour — is exactly what they cannot afford to repeat at Bologna four days from now.