Napoli 2-0 Arsenal: Italians out as Gunners finish second
Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon goals helped Napoli beat Arsenal 2-0 but Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 victory against Marseille meant the Italians were dumped out while the Gunners only finished in second.
The north London side's fate was in their own hands at the Stadio San Paolo but the loss now means they could end up facing the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16.
Rafa Benitez's side raced out of the traps in search for a quick goal to set them on their way for the three they needed to dump the visitors out and ensure they progressed themselves regardless of the group's other result.
Goran Pandev’s left footed strike tested the palms of Wojciech Szczesny early on while Per Mertesacker’s last ditch slide prevented Higuan finding the Macedonian, who was in acres of space and ready to hit the trigger.
Despite dominating possession the Italian side’s early vigour tailed off and they could have fallen behind had Olivier Giroud controlled Mesuit Ozil’s ball better with a clear run on goal.
And it was the Frenchman who had the best chance of the half when his powerful strike from a tight angle was well saved by Rafael Cabral. Ozil followed it up but, stunningly, he totally mistimed his effort and the chance went begging.
Szczesny almost needlessly gave away a goal when he stupidly tried to flick the ball out to his defenders but only found Higuain whose reactionary header just went wide.
Napoli finally got a breakthrough as Higuain, who so famously nearly signed for the Gunners last summer, found space in the box to turn his marker and curl one home with 73 minutes gone.
Moments later it was truly game on when Mikel Arteta went through the back of Callejon and duly got his second yellow. With Dortmund tied at 1-1 in Marseille at that time, the Italians were going through but knew that one strike for the Germans would mean a different story and they steamed forward as a result.
They came close to a second when Armero’s delicious whipped ball across the box narrowly evaded the toes of Insigne and Dries Mertens. But after pressing for further goals they then ludicrously sat off for almost ten minutes and Kevin Grosskreutz's late winner for Dortmund then changed things up again.
Napoli poured forward and despite a cheeky lob from Callejon giving the Italians a second goal that was it for the hosts as the referee blew for full-time immediately.
A few minutes later confirmation came through of the Champions League runners-up winning in France resulting in the Italians dropping down to the Europa League and Arsenal facing up to the knowledge of a daunting game awaiting them in the last-16.