Henrikh Mkhitaryan will miss Arsenal’s Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku amid fears due to fear for his safety.
Okay Nigeria understands that the player’s safety is at stack due to the tense political dispute between Armenia and final hosts Azerbaijan.
Arsenal decided to drop Mkhitaryan from the team squad after meeting his family.
The England club annouced in a statement that read:
“We are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad for our UEFA Europa League final against Chelsea.
“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.”
Mkhitaryan also tweeted on the issue saying, “Having considered all the current options, we had to take the tough decision for me not to travel with the squad to the UEL Final against Chelsea.
“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. I will be cheering my teammates on! Let’s bring it home.”
Furthermore, Arsenal added in the statement that:
“We have written to UEFA expressing our deep concerns about this situation,” the Arsenal statement added.
“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.
“Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.”
Azerbaijan and Armenia have feuded over Nagorny Karabakh since Armenian separatists seized the territory in a war that claimed about 30,000 lives in the early 1990s.
A ceasefire was agreed in 1994 but the two countries remain locked in a bitter dispute with frequent exchanges of fire, and tensions are such that Mkhitaryan also did not travel to Azerbaijan with former club Borussia Dortmund for a Europa League match against Galaba FK in 2015.
