Arsenal want to win the Europa League final 'for Mkhi'

Arsenal's players' attempt at solidarity will amount to nothing. UEFA have banned them from wearing t-shirts with Henrikh Mkhitaryan on them for their warm-up ahead of the Europa League final against Chelsea. The players wanted to set an example and highlight for the world that their Armenian teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan wasn't able to travel to Baku because of security reasons.

The government of Azerbaijan see things differently, and have little understanding for Mkhitaryan's decision not to travel. The authorities in Baku say that the 30-year-old's security was guaranteed.

For years, Amnesty International has singled out Azerbaijan for widespread human rights violations. Kate Allen, director of Amnesty Great Britain, said that it shouldn't be permitted for the powers that be in Baku to mask their shocking rights record with football folklore. Journalists, bloggers and human rights activists are ruthlessly followed. Members of the LGBT community are targeted and arrested.

"The condition of human rights are a problem here," UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said in an interview with Der Spiegel, before adding: "They are in other European countries as well, however."

How dangerous the trip to Baku would have been for Mkhitaryan remains unclear. It isn't clear if there is a precedent where prominent Armenian athletes have been arrested or attacked in Azerbaijain. In the past, Mkhitaryan has opted not to travel to Azerbaijan on multiple occasions for fear of his own safety.

For the same reason, he stayed at home in 2015 when Borussia Dortmund faced Azerbaijain club Gabala in the Europa League. The same was true of Arsenal's trip to Qarabag in 2018. The reason for Mkhitaryan's concern is the lingering conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus. The region lies in the Muslim area of Azerbaijan, but is mainly inhabited by Orthodox Christian Armenians.

Mkhitaryan has traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh

The conflict, the roots of which stretch back around 100 years, began in earnest at the end of 1980s. Tens of thousands of people died, many more were banished or fled. The ceasefire that was agreed upon in 1994 continues to be broken regularly. Azerbaijan has stated that anyone who wants to travel to Nagorno-Karabakh must obtain a travel permit from the Foreign Office in Baku, with imprisonment a potential outcome for any violations.

In 2017, a Russian blogger was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Mkhitaryan has been to Nagorno-Karabakh before, including as a player back in 2012 when he was playing for Shakhtar Donetsk.

Teammates' support

Bernd Leno, Arsenal's goalkeeper, doesn't understand UEFA's decision to award Baku the final.

"If the conditions aren't as they should be and a player can't play because of political reasons, then it's not right," Leno told Kicker. The 27-year-old added that he totally understood Mkhitaryan's decision not to travel to Baku.

"Our team has it in the back of their minds. We also want to win for Mkhi," said Shkodran Mustafi, who is one of three Germans in the Arsenal team, alongside Leno and Mesut Özil.

From a sporting perspective, Chelsea are seen as slight favorites. For Arsenal, this game is about more than a trophy though. Having finished fifth in the Premier League, the club missed out on Champions League qualification. Victory in the Europa League final would however secure them that - unlike Chelsea, who already have a place in the Champions League in the bag, having finished third in the league.

Chelsea won the Champions League in Munich in 2012, and the Europa League a year later. Arsenal, on the other hand, have not won a European trophy in 25 years.