Merino says last-minute seat change on Dortmund coach may have saved his life
Mikel Merino, who signed for Arsenal from Real Sociedad in 2024, said a last-minute change of seat on Borussia Dortmund's coach may have saved his life when the bus was hit by explosives on its way to the home leg of their Champions League semi-final against Monaco in 2017.
Three bombs, filled with metal pins and hidden in a hedge, exploded as the team coach passed, and Merino — then 20 — said a large piece of shrapnel ended up lodged in the headrest of the seat he usually occupied because he had opted to sit elsewhere as his "legs were feeling a bit tight." "The seats in the front reclined so I sat up there instead, and it may have saved my life," said the Premier League and World Cup winner in an interview with The Players' Tribune. "I think I have an angel on my shoulder. I'm actually fortunate to be alive at all."
Merino recalled seeing blood on the floor, smelling smoke and hearing screams after the blasts, and he went to hospital to wait for team-mate Marc Bartra, who had an operation on a broken wrist. The match against Monaco was postponed until the following day, which was criticised by Dortmund's manager, current England boss Thomas Tuchel.
Sergei Wenergold, a German of Russian origin, was sent to prison in 2018 after he admitted to the attack. Merino's interview also outlined his recovery from a stress fracture in his right foot in February to lifting the World Cup with Spain five months later.
Discussing that recovery, Merino quoted medical advice: "The doctor said, 'six months'." He said he was "too shocked to even feel sad. I just did the math in my head. The World Cup was four months away." When he told his wife, Lola, he said, "that's when I broke down. My brain already understood, but my heart needed me to say it out loud."
Merino added that "when the fog had cleared a little" he used the Dortmund incident as motivation because "things happen for a reason." He said he had played in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup but was not selected for the final squad, and that he was determined not to miss out again: "I have to play. I will be at the World Cup, no matter what," he said. "I put all the meat on the barbecue, as we say in Spain. They told me they could drill two screws into my foot to give it support. I was like, Vamos, put 'em in."
Merino watched his Arsenal team-mates secure a first Premier League title in 22 years and celebrated with them, but said his focus was on Arsenal's final game of the season at Crystal Palace on 24 May, with Spain boss Luis de la Fuente naming the World Cup squad the following day. "Zero minutes in four months. How do you call up a player like that?" he said, describing how he "spent all week arguing with the [Arsenal] boss [Mikel Arteta] and the physios" as the plan was for him to return for the Champions League final [against Paris St-Germain on 30 May]. "Finally, they agreed to give me half an hour against Palace. That day, I was playing for the World Cup, 100%. And after that, I thought I had a good chance."
The day Spain's squad was announced, Merino said he turned on Spanish TV and saw a woman in a vineyard announce, "Mikel Merino!" He said he "hugged Lola. I kissed [my son] Marco. My phone blew up with messages." "I was going to the World Cup."
