Footage has emerged showing Azerbaijani police apparently stopping two Arsenal fans on the streets of Baku for wearing Henrikh Mkhitaryan shirts.
Gunners fans are in the city ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League final clash against Chelsea on Wednesday evening – a match you can follow LIVE on talkSPORT.
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Arsenal fans wearing Mkhitaryan shirts have been stopped in the streets of Baku
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Arsenal fans are in Baku ahead of the Europa League final against Chelsea
Arsenal have confirmed they will be without Mkhitaryan for the all-English European final, with the 30-year-old refusing to travel to Baku over the conflict between his country and host nation Azerbaijan.
The same political tensions saw him skip the Gunners’ clash against Qarabag in Baku earlier this season, while they also prevented him from playing for Borussia Dortmund in a Europa League game against Gabala – in northern Azerbaijan – in October 2015.
UEFA have been heavily criticised for their decision to stage the final in Baku, with Arsenal and Chelsea fans experiencing issues with travel and acquiring tickets to the match.
However, speaking ahead of the match, Arsenal duo Granit Xhaka and Sokratis Papastathopoulos have insisted their team-mate’s absence has provided them with extra motivation to win the Europa League.
“Of course we are disappointed he’s not here but I think we spoke a lot about Mkhitaryan, and a lot of political things, and it’s time to speak about football,” Xhaka told the media on Tuesday.
“He’s very important for us, and we want to give him a trophy tomorrow.
“We’ve been twice in a row in the Europa League, and a club like Arsenal has to be in the Champions League.
“It’s an amazing and important game for us, because we want to give the club and the fans the Champions League back.”
Sokaritis, who also played with Mkhitaryan for several years at Borussia Dortmund, added: “We’ve had five or six years together, I know him very well, we are good friends.
“So I just wrote what I feel. But we have also to play for him and for the players who are injured, and tomorrow if we win this game, it’s also for them.”
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