Arsenal face UEFA Charge

Arsenal are facing UEFA Charges for the misconduct in their Europa League clash against Qarabag at Emirates.

Arsenal are facing UEFA Charge following the misconduct during the Europa League clash against Qarabag at Emirates Stadium on Thursday. The London club has been accused of letting the supporters enter the pitch during this clash and the late kickoff to the game against Azerbaijan club.

A supporter of Qarabag entered the field holding the flag in the name of political strife. It is understood that the flag was of the Nagorno-Karabakh region which has been in centre of dissension between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The pitch invader nearly headed to the Arsenal bench where Henrikh Mkhitaryan was sitting. He was an unused substitute in their 1-0 win on Thursday.

Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov on fan running on the pitch with a flag of the disputed region of Artsakh: “I would like to not talk too much about this. Only cowards will act like this. We must respect everybody at football, this provocation I would call it cowardice.”

Since Azerbaijan bans the Armenian citizens from entering their country, Arsenal did not take their attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the European country in the reverse fixture which was held at Baku Olympic Stadium on October 4, 2018.

UEFA said that they have no problem in obtaining the visa for Mkhitaryan,

“It is a standard procedure for UEFA to send letters of support to associations, clubs or embassies in order to obtain visa for players in order to be able to travel to another country and play in UEFA competition matches,” a spokesperson said.

But, Arsenal have always maintained that the players need to be safe during the Europa League draw “Safety and security of all our players and staff is always a top priority.” said a staff from the Gunners.

Additionally, Unai Emery kept on repeating that Mkhitaryan “cannot travel there” in the pre-match press conference. It should be noted that the 2019 Europa League final will be held at Azerbaijan.

But, he said “It’s a long time for us to arrive at the final. We are thinking only of the performance tomorrow.”

Besides, the game kicked off around three minutes late which has prompted the European body to take an action against the English club. The Gunners could not start the game swiftly by 7:45 PM on Thursday.

The European governing body’s regulations show that the late kickoff brings a warning to the team and the coach for the first infringement. If the same is repeated for the second time, the club would be fined 10,000 Euros and the manager would serve a one-game touchline ban.

Manchester United were late to their Champions League clash against Valencia in the early October, and they did the same against Juventus later that month. Since Jose Mourinho entered the Stadium earlier than the players, the English outfit escaped from getting the punishment.

Arsenal have now received a huge boost with their star players Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil available for the weekend clash against Southampton at the St.Mary’s Stadium. Following the Premier League action, they return to Emirates to play their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup.