Chelsea face Arsenal in the Europa League final in the
unfamiliar setting of Azerbaijan on Wednesday in what is likely to be Chelsea
star Eden Hazard’s last match for the club before a rumoured move to Real
Madrid.
The buildup to the all-English clash has been marred by the
controversy surrounding UEFA’s choice of venue, with a London derby exported
almost 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometres) to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, by the
Caspian Sea.
The match is the first course in a banquet of European
finals dominated by England, with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur contesting
the Champions League showpiece in Madrid on Saturday.
However, there will not be much of an English atmosphere at
the Baku Olympic Stadium when the match kicks off at 11:00pm (1900 GMT), with
reportedly only around 6,000 tickets sold by the clubs for a ground which holds
almost 70,000.
The distances and costs involved and the difficulty in
getting to Baku have prevented more fans from travelling.
On the field, Arsenal are handicapped by the absence of
Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He decided not to travel because of fears over his safety
due to an ongoing political dispute between Azerbaijan and his home country,
Armenia.
“It is not in my hands. They have their reason to play here
and I must respect this decision,” Arsenal coach Unai Emery said on Tuesday.
“Yes, I prefer to play with our supporters here. I’d prefer
it if a lot of supporters from us and from Chelsea could come here from London,
but it’s difficult.”
Chelsea’s preparations have been fraught, with rumours
swirling that not only is Hazard leaving for Madrid but that coach Maurizio
Sarri could go to coach-less Juventus.
The tension bubbled to the surface in a training session
open to the media on Tuesday when Sarri stormed off the pitch at the Olympic
Stadium with TV cameras capturing the moment when the Italian angrily tossed
away his baseball cap as he headed for the tunnel shortly after David Luiz and
Gonzalo Higuain had clashed.
Sarri had earlier refused the Juventus vacancy, saying: “I
have a contract with Chelsea for two years.
“So, first of all, I will speak with Chelsea but this is not
the moment.”
He said winning the final would turn a “very good season”
into a “wonderful” one. Some critics would argue however that a third-place
Premier League finish 26 points adrift of champions Manchester City and a
chance of winning Europe’s second-tier trophy is unsatisfactory for a club with
Russian-backed Chelsea’s budget.
Emery has seemed far more serene although the stakes are
certainly high for the Gunners. After finishing fifth in the Premier League,
two points behind Chelsea in third and one point behind Tottenham, Arsenal have
to win to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“For a club like Arsenal, we have to be in the Champions
League. It’s an amazing and important game because we want to give us, the fans
and the club the Champions League back,” said Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka.
Arsenal have not been in a European final since 2006 and
have not won a continental trophy since lifting the Cup Winners’ Cup 25 years
ago.
In Emery, though, they have a coach who won this competition
three years running with Sevilla.
“All teams’ first objective is to play to win a title — I
think that is the first objective, and then there is also the fact that it
helps you to achieve the Champions League,” he said.
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