Why Matic didn't poppy contro l'Arsenal?

There was a lot of talk in England on Sunday night about why Neijmana Matic, the Manchester United midfielder, did not wear the poppy, the poppy worn by Premier League teams in honour of the Royal British Legion, in the match with Arsenal. In the gunners' challenge, Matic was the only player on the pitch who did not have the poppy on his shirt, while all the players wear it in the middle of the uniforms: even the coaches, from Mourinho to Pellegrini, wore the poppy this weekend. As early as last year, during the game against Bournemouth, the player had not shown the poppy on the uniform, and on that occasion he explained why this choice was made. 

On Instagram Matic explained that due to events of his past he does not feel he can wear such a symbol: at the age of 12, in the middle of the Balacani War, Matic witnessed the bombings in Serbia of those years and that symbol, for him, is a reminder of the sufferings of the war. For this reason, as Matic explains, while respecting the poppy and the wearer and in full respect also of those who served in the British Army, the player chose not to present it on his uniform. As he specified on Instagram, "we are all a product of our own education and this is a personal choice"." 

Matic had never refused to put the "poppy" on his shirt in recent years - he has played in the Premier League for 8 seasons, but has now decided it was the right time for him not to do it again. A few years ago, Stoke City's Northern Ireland midfielder James McLean also decided not to expose him, having been born in Derry, a Northern Irish town that was the scene of Bloody Sunday during the Anglo-Irish War, in which the British army robbed many people. Poppy is worn on the jerseys by English players who make a minute's silence before the game in memory of the fallen soldiers, and the jerseys are then sold at auction, the proceeds of which are then donated to charity.