Henrikh Mkhitaryan could miss Qarabag game if Manchester United draw Azerbaijani title winners in Champions League
Mkhi was previously left out of a Dortmund squad for a trip to face Azerbaijani outfit Gabala in the Europa League
HENRIKH MKHITARYAN will be hoping Manchester United steer clear of Qarabag in the Champions League.
The group stage draw takes place in Monaco at 5pm today.
And Armenian ace Mkhi will be worried that he does not end up at the centre of a diplomatic row should United land the Azerbaijani champs.
Qarabag are the side from their country to make it through to the group stage after getting the better of Copenhagen in the play-offs.
And that means that United, who are in pot two, could land land Qarabag, who are in pot four.
Azerbaijan have banned Armenians from entering the country over tensions between the bordering rivals.
And when Mkhi was playing for Dortmund in 2015, security concerns led to the German club decided to leave him out of their squad for a Europa League game against Azerbaijani club Gabala.
The Nagorno-Karabakh clashes in 2016 occurred in mostly Armenian-controlled territories and saw around 350 people killed.
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Fighting broke out when Azerbaijani forces launched strikes to regain control of territory controlled by the Armenia-backed breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh.
That was against a background of a previous 27-year-long conflict that saw tens of thousands killed.
Some Armenian athletes have been allowed into Azerbaijan in the past, but not without controversy.
During the 2015 European games in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku, 25 Armenian athletes were cleared to compete.
But the Armenian delegation were heavily booed and the athletes travelled to Baku only to compete in their individual events.
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