Kevin De Bruyne Calls Arsenal the Best Team in the World After Napoli Match

Kevin De Bruyne has seen enough great sides to choose his words carefully. On Wednesday night in Italy, after another ruthless Arsenal display, he didn’t bother with caution.

“Perhaps the best team in the world right now?” a CBS Sports reporter suggested. “I agree,” De Bruyne replied.

Arsenal’s statement start

Arsenal arrived in Naples carrying the weight of champions and the scars of near-misses. Premier League title secured last season for the first time since 2004. A Champions League final reached, only to slip away on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain.

They are playing like a team determined to make sure that kind of heartbreak doesn’t define them.

In a tight, high-level Champions League opener, Mikel Arteta’s side imposed themselves again. Martin Odegaard, the calm in Arsenal’s storm, delivered the decisive moment. His goal settled a 1-0 win and extended Arsenal’s perfect start to the season to five matches in all competitions.

It was not a thrashing. It didn’t need to be. This was the sort of controlled, mature European away performance that used to belong to other clubs. Now it looks like Arsenal’s trademark.

De Bruyne’s respect for Arsenal’s rise

De Bruyne, now the creative heartbeat of Napoli and still widely associated with his legendary years at Manchester City, left the pitch frustrated. No points, no reward. Yet he could not ignore what he had just faced.

“They are the champions of England and lost the last Champions League final on penalties, so we know how strong they are,” he said, as reported by English newspaper Metro.

This was not empty praise. It sounded like recognition from a player who has spent his career measuring himself against the very best.

He saw enough from his own side to cling to, too.

“I think we actually put in a good performance,” De Bruyne reflected. “When we tried to play, we had some moments where we created chances, and of course we had to sit back at times, and in the second half we gave them a lot of chances, we were very deep.”

Napoli bent but did not collapse. They survived waves of Arsenal pressure, especially after the break, when the visitors began to find more space between the lines and around the box. The Italian champions had to retreat, sometimes desperately, yet they still found pockets of play to remind everyone they belong at this level.

“The pressure finally told” might have been the story on another night. Here, the story was Arsenal’s relentlessness and Napoli’s refusal to fold completely.

Napoli’s improvement amid defeat

Just when it looked like Napoli might be overwhelmed, they found their rhythm again. De Bruyne pointed to those spells as a sign that something is building.

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

That line matters. Napoli have stuttered early in the season, trying to blend new ideas with old expectations. Facing a side as sharp and confident as Arsenal could have exposed every flaw. Instead, it gave them a benchmark.

They lost, yes. Yet they competed. They created. They showed they can live with a team De Bruyne himself now labels the world’s best.

Arsenal’s new reality

For Arsenal, this is what their new reality looks like: away to a strong Napoli, in a hostile European atmosphere, and still expected to control, to win, to look like the seasoned Champions League side.

They did exactly that.

Five games. Five wins. Champions of England. Runners-up in Europe. Now walking into another Champions League campaign with a swagger that feels earned rather than borrowed.

When players of De Bruyne’s stature start calling you “the best team in the world”, the compliment lingers. The real question is whether Arsenal can carry that weight all the way through another long season—and turn admiration into trophies that no one can argue with.