On Thursday next week which is May 29, Arsenal will be in Baku Azerbaijan to face Chelsea in the Europa League finals.
The Gunners qualified for this stage following a 7-3 aggregate triumph over Valencia in the semifinals of this competition.
Upon making it to the finals, the Mkhitaryan safety issue sprung up again. As we already know, the midfielder is an Armenian who is prohibited from traveling to the venue of the final due to a political dispute between both countries.
This factor was responsible for his omission from the side that faced Qarabag away in the group stage of this contest late last year, as well as during hi8s reign at Borussia Dortmund.
Amidst the contemplation of whether to allow him travel or not, UEFA and the Azerbaijan Football Association gave assurance to Arsenal that the player will be safe if he decides to feature.
The Gunners have however chosen to be on the safe side leaving him out and this was disclosed in an official announcement made by them.
According to the statement, it was a decision jointly taken by the club and members of the former Manchester United player's family.
"We have written to Uefa expressing our deep concerns about this situation," read an Arsenal 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.
"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."
This is a big blow to the player who would have longed to be a part of the prospective success story. We hope that in the future, such situations will be duly addressed.Â
I would suggest that UEFA desist from staging finals at venues restricting a particular set of people who aren't criminals.
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