Arsenal, Mkhitaryan to miss Europa League final due to political reasons

Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be available for Arsenal in their Europa League final against Chelsea, set to be played in Baku, Azerbaijan. The decision around the Armenian player was made due to tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the political control of the Nagorno-Karabahk region, a territory that has been disputed for some time.

Therefore, to avoid any problems, the Gunners preferred to not call-up the midfielder, who has already missed matches in Azerbaijan for these reasons in the past. Arsenal released the below statement on the decision to not call-up Mkhitaryan on their official channels:

"We are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not travel with the team for the UEFA Europa League final against Chelsea. We deeply explored all options to allow the player to be with the team, but after discussions this with him and his family, we've agreed that he will not be called-up. We've written to UEFA expressing our deep concerns around this situation. Mkhitaryan was a key player in our path to the final, therefore this is a great loss for us as a team. We're also very sad for the fact that a player can miss a European final for circumstances like this, given that it's something that happens rarely in a player's career. Mkhitaryan will continue to train with us until the trip to Baku at the end of the week."