Unai Emery could be forced to leave out Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Europa League final squad.
Arsenal are pondering about the availability of Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the UEFA Europa League final. The Gunners attacker hails from Armenia, and the ongoing heated political problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia is causing a turmoil for the club and player himself.
The club held up a meeting with UEFA for a solution over Mkhitaryan’s accessibility to Baku for the Europa League final setup with their arch-rivals Chelsea later this month. The Gunners decision will be decided by early next week at the latest, but there is an abundance of frustration within the camp with one of their players could be forced to miss out of the clash because of safety concerns, according to the English publication, Guardian.
Both the player and club are disappointed about the prospect of staying back in London. Although Mkhitaryan has not been a starter for Arsenal, he has featured in eleven out of fourteen games, and not one of his teammates has spent more minutes than the Armenian in the same time span.
It is not realistic for Arsenal to pull off the competition, with so much stake in that competition which would automatically guide to the Champions League should they be crowned as Champions on May 29th. The most important part is club should not be forced to leave him, and a player under UEFA jurisdiction should not feel pushed to miss one of its showpiece finals because of his nationality.
During the group stages, Unai Emery was not hesitant about the possibility of leaving him out of the squad when the Gunners played Qarabag. In the reverse leg, an away fan ran onto the pitch with Republic of Artsakh flag, which caused displeasure to the home and away side at the Emirates Stadium.
It was an unnecessary moment which caused tension because of political discrepancies. The Gunners will be forced to take a decision and the reaction currently does not look positive.
Here’s how Twitter reacted..
What’s next?
Arsenal will take on Chelsea in the finals of the UEFA Europa League on May 29 at Baku, Azerbaijan.
