The Frenchman was due to be on punditry duties for the upcoming final in Budapest
Samir Nasri has pulled out of punditry duties for the Champions League final following abuse from Paris St Germain fans.
PSG take on Nasri’s former club Arsenal in Budapest on Saturday, with the Gunners bidding for their first ever Champions League title.
Nasri, who made 125 appearances for the current Premier League champions, was due to appear as a pundit for French channel Canal+, but has since announced he will be stepping away.
The former winger has alleged he was the subject of vicious abuse from PSG fans during the French side’s semi-final clash with Bayern Munich, citing his connections with fierce rivals Marseille as a key factor.
Nasri came through the academy at Marseille, and played 166 games for the club over four seasons before leaving for Arsenal.
Speaking to L’Equipe, he said: “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.”
He added: “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.
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Arsenal have reached the UEFA Champions League final where they face Paris Saint-Germain on May 30. Fans can watch the game without a TNT Sports subscription by signing up to the HBO Max Basic With Ads plan via Prime Video’s HBO Max channel.
“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.”
Indeed, Nasri has previously tipped Arsenal to lose in the final, adding that he expects PSG to have too much for Mikel Arteta’s men.
“In terms of what PSG is developing, I see them as favourites,” he said.
“On the other hand, Arsenal will be in a phase that they like. They will wait for PSG. But I see PSG.”
Relations with Arsenal fans have been strained since Nasri made the controversial switch to Manchester City in 2011, a move many Gooners felt was motivated by greed.
Three years after the move he told 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?”
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