'You're a disgrace': Football fans' bizarre swipe at Kim Kardashian

Arsenal fans have levelled some strange criticism at Kim Kardashian over Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s decision to miss the Europa League final.

After holding lengthy talks with his club, Mkhitaryan said he would not be traveling to Azerbaijan for next week's final because of concerns about the tension that currently exists between the country and his native Armenia.

"It's the kind of game that doesn't come along very often for us players," Mkhitaryan said on his social media channels, "and I must admit, it hurts me a lot to miss it."

The political dramas have left Arsenal fans fuming, but things have taken a strange twist with Kardashian dragged into the mess.

A number of fans have called on the reality TV star (who has Armenian heritage) to use her platform to speak out about the issue.

However they were left fuming when she failed to do so.

Re-tweeting a photo from 2018 of Kardashian and her family visiting Armenia, one Arsenal fan wrote: “Armenian when it’s convenient, yet silent on the issue of Mkhitaryan playing in the Europa League final? You’re a disgrace to your federation.”

‘So disappointed’

Many found the tweet to be humorous, although others took it seriously.

“So disappointed in the Kardashians on this,” one reply read.

Another tweeted: “Did u aware your brother from armenia @HenrikhMkh won’t be playing in europa league final because of old history of war between armenia and Azerbaijan (baku) and the world is silent. Peace to the world.”

And @RaveHawk2012 actually appealed for support.

“Hi Kim, not sure if this message will find you but, if it does, do you think you could help support Armenia’s football captain? He’s had to pull out of a final because he’s Armenian. Is there a way you could help Henrikh? Thanks,” the user tweeted.

Over on Reddit, there was a fair amount of vitriol.

User Bless_the_reign said: “Actually f*** this. She’s influential. If you have Twitter make her aware. Keep blasting her.

“She might ‘not care’ but if the public have interest, she can jump on board and a single tweet from this ding dong could be damning.

“I mean, I’d bet a grand on Kim Kardashian not knowing who Arsenal are, let alone Mkhitaryan and even more so the Europa league.”

User Up_Your_Chump wrote: “Starting a petition to demand all Kardashians and Jenners go directly to Baku and support Arsenal by buying all the rest of the tickets and giving away Mkhitaryan kits to all supporters and attending the game and sitting on middle finger emoji thrones. F*** it, bring Kanye and don’t forget about Rob and Caitlin.”

‘No reason whatsoever’

UEFA, European soccer's governing body which organises the Europa League, reacted by saying it had received assurances about Mkhitaryan's safety in Azerbaijan "from the highest authorities in the country" and that a "comprehensive security plan" had been given to Arsenal.

And the Azerbaijan government had previously said it would allow Mkhitaryan to play in the May 29 final against Chelsea.

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan called it an "unwarranted decision" by Mkhitaryan and Arsenal, saying there was "no reason whatsoever to put in question the seriousness of these guarantees provided by Azerbaijan."

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region of Azerbaijan which has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. Some neighbouring districts are also under the control of those ethnic Armenian forces. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled.

"We at all times put the sport as something very separate from these political issues and of course the same issue is again with Mkhitaryan," Azerbaijan Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said last week.

Arsenal has already criticised the decision to give Baku the final, having received — like Chelsea — only 6,000 tickets by UEFA and because of what the club says are "extreme" problems that fans face just getting to the match.

There are relatively few flights to Baku from Western Europe, though more are being operated for the final, and prices are far above usual levels.

with AP