22 May Safety concerns rules Arsenal star out of Europa League final

Posted at 02:55h in News by

Arsenal has confirmed that Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not travel with the squad to face Chelsea in the Europa League final in Baku amid concerns over his safety.

Due to long-running political tensions between Armenia and final hosts Azerbaijan, there were fears Mkhitaryan’s wellbeing would be under serious threat if he was part of the travelling party.

The Gunners expressed their disappointment in the appalling situation surrounding the 30-year-old ahead of the club’s biggest game of the season.

“We are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad for our UEFA Europa League final against Chelsea,” Arsenal said in a statement.

“We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party.

“We have written to UEFA expressing our deep concerns about this situation. Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.

“We’re also very sad that a player will miss out on a major European final in circumstances such as this, as it is something that comes along very rarely in a footballer’s career.”

Mkhitaryan revealed he was hurting at being forced to miss out on playing in a European final.
“It‘s the kind of game that doesn’t come along very often for us players and I must admit, it hurts me a lot to miss it,” the Armenian international tweeted.

The choice of venue for the showpiece event has dominated the build-up with UEFA coming under fire for allocating Arsenal and Chelsea just 6,000 tickets each in a 68,000-seat stadium.

The final takes place on May 29 with the Gunners looking to win a first European trophy since 1994 and secure a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

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