Former Arsenal star will not act as pundit for the Champions League final due to abuse fears from fans

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Former Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri will not act as a pundit for the Champions League final between the Gunners and Paris Saint-Germain.

The final of the tournament takes place on Saturday and Arsenal reached it after defeating Atletico Madrid over two legs, while PSG overcame Bayern Munich.

The first leg of PSG versus Bayern was the game one of the matches of the season, ending 5-4 to the Parisians. The second leg at the Allianz Arena finished 1-1 and it was there that Nasri ran into some trouble with the PSG supporters.

As a former Marseille player, Nasri was the target of constant verbal abuse from the PSG fans, some of whom alluded to his current tax troubles.

As a pundit for Canal+, he was originally supposed to travel to Budapest for the Champions League final but he has now been removed from the channel's travelling contingent due to fears that he'll be abused pitchside again.

He confirmed he isn't going, but said the alternatives pundits selected made more sense anyway.

“Yes, it’s true. But it’s part of the game as a former Marseille player to get insulted by Parisian fans,” Nasri told L’Equipe.

“Even though I think they had other things to do, like celebrating qualifying for the final. However, that’s not why I’m not going to Budapest for the final.

“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 set. Arsenal is also my former club, but I don’t have an extraordinary relationship with its fans.

“When I was a player, I got insulted too, even on opposing pitches. What bothered me was that they insulted my mother, even though, well, you've qualified for the final, you celebrate with your players!

“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 quit TV and I'd quit going to matches.”

Nasri's tax problems

Nasri is officially a tax resident of Dubai but French authorities are attempting to determine that he spends the majority of the year living in his native France.

Part of the investigation includes an analysis of over 200 Deliveroo orders that show a pattern of deliveries in France, not in Dubai.

French tax authorities are investigating claims that Samir Nasri may owe more than €5.51 million, including €5.25 million in income tax covering the years 2020 to 2022.

The allegations carry serious consequences. Authorities have already secured the seizure of his Paris property, a decision upheld by the Paris Judicial Court on 12 March, while the former Arsenal midfielder also had his bank accounts frozen.

According to Les Echos, key evidence gathered includes airline records indicating Nasri spent between 126 and 208 days per year in France between 2021 and 2023, compared to just 42 to 124 days annually in the UAE.

Les Echos reports that he had 212 meals delivered to his account in Paris via Deliveroo.

In addition to this, Nasri’s contract with a French TV station requiring him to record 40-45 programs between September 2021 and June 2022 is presented as further evidence.

Nasri and his lawyers contested the investigation, which is ongoing.