Samir Nasri has stepped down from working as a TV pundit for Arsenal’s Champions League final clash with Paris Saint-Germain amid concerns he will receive abuse from the latter’s fanbase.
Nasri was due to work for French channel Canal+ for the Budapest-based showpiece on Saturday.
However, there has now been a U-turn on that decision after he was reportedly abused by PSG supporters during their semi-final clash with Bayern Munich.
The 38-year-old has ties to Arsenal having played 125 games for the club between 2008 and 2011, but his bond with Marseille is the source of contention among some of the Parisian club’s fanbase.
PSG and Marseille have a bitter rivalry and Nasri came through the ranks at his boyhood club Marseille, playing 166 games over four seasons, before leaving for Arsenal.
And speaking to L’Equipe, the former midfielder cited his roots as the reason he will no longer be covering the match.
Samir Nasri (left) has pulled out of covering the Champions League final amid fan abuse fears
Nasri says some PSG fans hurled abuse about his mum during his TV work for Canal+ recently
He came through the ranks at Marseille (left) – who are PSG’s rivals – before joining Arsenal
‘Yes, it’s true. But it’s part of the game as a former Marseille player to get insulted by Parisian fans… Even if I think they had other things to do, like celebrating qualifying for the final (smiles).
‘What bothered me was that they insulted my mother… That’s not why I’m not going to Budapest for the final.
‘It’s not the first time I’ve been insulted in a stadium, and it certainly won’t be the last. And if I let it get to me, I’d stop doing TV and I’d stop going to matches.
‘It’s PSG-Arsenal, it’s better to have Robert Pires, who’s a die-hard Gunners fan, and David Ginola, who’s a die-hard PSG fan, than someone neutral like me on the panel. Arsenal is also my former club, but I don’t have an extraordinary relationship with its supporters.’
Despite his ties to Arsenal, Nasri’s absence won’t be missed by many of their supporters due to the acrimonious way he left the club in August 2011 for Manchester City.
Many fans felt his move to City was fuelled by greed, something he denied – insisting it was about silverware.
Three years after his move he reflected to The Telegraph: ‘This image of me being materialistic is a French thing.
‘People were envious. It’s fine. I really hesitated a long time. There was [Manchester] United. City wasn’t the big club it is right now. My agent told me, “Do you want to play in the big club, already with a big history (United), where you will be just one of them? Or play for Manchester City, who didn’t win the league for 44 years, where if you win the trophy, you can make history”.
‘I said, “Oh, yeah, I want to make history”. In my first year, I won the league. I don’t have any regrets. Yes, economically I have a better life now than what I had at Arsenal. It’s normal. If I said to you tomorrow that there is another journal, as serious as your journal, offer you three times your salary, I think you are going to go there. But my first motive was to win trophies.’
Nasri will say he is vindicated by his decision, having won the Premier League in his first season – City’s first – while adding another title and League Cup in 2013-14 too.
