An English football club is unable to take its player to a foreign country for the Europa League final because of the midfielder’s nationality. At first, sounds too bizarre to be true, right? But as simple as it may seem, it is a highly complex matter involving an ongoing conflict, politics and safety concerns.
UEFA refuses to give any further comment other than a previously issued statement regarding the situation around Armenian midfielder of Arsenal FC Henrikh Mkhitaryan having to miss the Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku, Azerbaijan due to safety concerns.
When the Gunners officially confirmed that they won’t be taking Mkhitaryan with them to Azerbaijan, the decision to hold the final in Baku caused uproar among numerous fans, sports commentators and analysts.
Commentators have even proposed Arsenal and Chelsea should together boycott the match.
One wonders what UEFA would do if theoretically the two clubs were to take the extreme measure of boycotting the final match. Taking into account the existing discontent and anger, is UEFA considering a possible change of location of the final match? ARMENPRESS contacted UEFA to find out, however the organization said they won’t be making any further comments, citing an earlier statement.
“We do not have any further comment to make besides the statement we issued yesterday regarding this topic”, UEFA told ARMENPRESS when asked to comment.
On May 21st, UEFA made the following statement: “Working alongside Arsenal FC, UEFA sought and received assurances regarding the player’s safety in Azerbaijan from the highest authorities in the country. As a result of these guarantees, a comprehensive security plan was developed and given to the club. While the club acknowledges the efforts that UEFA and the Azeri government have gone to in this matter, we respect the personal decision not to travel with the player.”
Given the strong uproar and discontent among football fans and sports journalists, ARMENPRESS requested further comments from Ars...
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