• Mkhitaryan’s absence ‘something that should not happen’
• Frenchman says he is ready for return to football
Arsène Wenger has described Arsenal’s predicament in heading to Baku for the Europa League final as “a little bit of a nightmare”. The club’s former manager, who left last summer after 22 years in the role and still describes himself as a fan, expressed disappointment that Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who signed for the club under Wenger, feels obliged not to travel because of safety concerns.
Armenians are not ordinarily welcome in Azerbaijan because of the dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and Mkhitaryan has spoken of his hurt to miss such a showpiece occasion. “That’s something that should not happen in football, in the modern world, that politically you cannot play a football game,” Wenger said.
Written by Amy Lawrence
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/23/arsene-wenger-arsenal-europa-league-final-nightmare under the title “Arsène Wenger: Europa League final ‘little bit of a nightmare’ for Arsenal”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
