Air Traffic Issue Delayed Arsenal's Flight to Italy for Napoli Clash

A technical glitch at Nats, the company that handles UK air traffic control, threw a wrench into Arsenal's travel plans on Tuesday, delaying their flight out to Italy for the club's Champions League opener against Napoli.

The Gunners were not expected to touch down in Naples until roughly 9.30 p.m. local time, which works out to 8.30 p.m. back in the UK and 2.30 p.m. on the US East Coast. Because the delay pushed things back so far, UEFA rules meant Arsenal had to scrap their pre-match press conference and other media commitments at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona altogether.

Behind the scenes, though, things stayed fairly relaxed. ESPN reports that the players, coaching staff and support team simply waited things out at the club's training base near London Luton Airport rather than rushing to the airport, holding tight until they had a confirmed departure time.

One player who didn't make the trip at all was Cristhian Mosquera, still sidelined with the muscle problem he suffered in Arsenal's Premier League victory over Aston Villa back on Aug. 31.

There was a brighter update on Jurrien Timber, however. The Dutch defender traveled with the rest of Mikel Arteta's squad and is now in contention to feature for the first time since he played in May's Champions League final.

Arsenal weren't alone in feeling the effects of the outage. Heathrow and Gatwick, the UK's busiest airports, both flagged the issue to travelers and advised anyone flying that day to check their flight status in advance, warning of likely delays across the board.

Nats confirmed it was aware of the problem and said engineers were working to resolve a fault within its flight processing system.

For Arsenal, the trip to Naples is the start of a fresh push for Champions League glory, a trophy that has eluded the club throughout its history. Should they get past Napoli, Arteta's side still has Lille, Bayern Munich, Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid to come in the league phase.