Mikel Arteta will be delighted with the UEFA Champions League draw, despite a couple of difficult fixtures
Mikel Arteta celebrates
Mikel Arteta(Image: Getty Images)
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Arsenal have managed to avoid a 5000-mile round trip by drawing Sabah FK at home in the UEFA Champions League...
The Gunners were just one of four teams fortunate enough to be drawn at home against the Azerbaijan outfit at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday night, along with Manchester United, Villarreal, and Viking.
Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, and Slavia Praha weren't so fortunate, meaning they'll have to jet off to the Eastern Europe-Western Asia border before the end of the year and play Sabah FK at the Bank Respublika Arena in the Masazır settlement of Absheron.
By facing the Azerbaijani champions at the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta's side will be spared the trouble of fixture congestion, travel fatigue, workload management, and geopolitical player safety issues.
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Back in May 2019, when Arsenal faced Chelsea in the Europa League final, Henrikh Mkhitaryan feared for his safety and chose not to travel to Baku, so he pulled out of the squad. There had been long-standing tension between his country of birth, Armenia and Azerbaijan due to a dispute over ownership of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Mkhitaryan, who has played 95 times for his country and remains captain, also missed the Gunners' clash against FK Qarabag in October 2018. Managers in the past have steered clear of political discourse, pointing out that the physical demands of travelling to the country itself are enough of a problem.
In May 2019, Jurgen Klopp slammed UEFA. Speaking to reporters ahead of a clash against Wolves, the former Liverpool boss said: "I think with Madrid it's unbelievably expensive, that's clear, but going to Baku for a Europa League final, that's really funny.
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"I think these guys who made these decisions, I don't know what they had for breakfast really when they did it. Last year, we went to Kyiv (for the Champions League final), which is a wonderful city, but it was not really likely a Russian team or a team from that part of the world would be involved."
With nearly 2500 miles separating the Emirates Stadium from the Bank Respublika Arena, Arsenal fans would have faced journey times of up to 14 hours depending on connections.
Maurizio Sarri took aim at UEFA, too. The former Chelsea boss said: "I don't know what to say about the problems. You'll have to ask UEFA, the clubs. I am really very disappointed because we do this job for this kind of match, and so we hope to see our fans here.
"I don't know what to say. I can say only that we will try to win. We will try to win for us and also for them."
Jose Mourinho wasn't bothered, though, when he had to lead Chelsea to Azerbaijan for a Europa League match just three days before their London derby. The former Blues boss told reporters: "Big clubs, they cope with difficult moments.
"We played a [2014] Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid – Wednesday and Tuesday – in the middle, we had to play Liverpool, and our country decided it was not a problem to play Saturday or Sunday.
"So we play Sunday before the Champions League. If it’s not a problem for us, it’s not a problem for Tottenham."
Arsenal draw in full: Real Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Dortmund (home), Real Betis (away), Lille (home), Napoli (away), Sabah (home), Slavia Prague (away).