Loved playing next to capital arena (9)
I believe the answer is:
velodrome
'arena' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'loved playing next to capital' is the wordplay.
'playing' is an anagram indicator.
'next to' says to put letters next to each other.
'capital' becomes 'Rome' (capital of Italy).
'loved' is an anagram of 'velod'.
'velod'+'rome'='VELODROME'
(Other definitions for velodrome that I've seen before include "Cycling arena" , "Cycle stadium" , "Banked oval track for cycle racing" , "Stadium containing a cycle-racing track" .)