Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has opened up on a harrowing experience during his time at Borussia Dortmund, admitting he is "fortunate to be alive" after a brush with death.
In April 2017, Dortmund were travelling to the Signal Iduna Park for a Champions League quarter-final match against Monaco when three pipe bombs detonated, shattering the vehicle's windows. While there were no deaths, defender Marc Bartra was among two people injured in the incident and was rushed to hospital with a fractured and severely lacerated wrist.
Narrow escape on the team bus
Merino has now disclosed that he could have died in the bombing, as he was supposed to be seated beside Bartra on the coach. Speaking to The Players' Tribune, he said: "I think I have an angel on my shoulder. I'm actually fortunate to be alive at all."
"I was 20 and playing for Dortmund when three pipe bombs went off right next to our bus on the way to a Champions League match. A lot of young people probably would not even believe that it happened, or how bad it was, but it marked us all."
He described the moment of the attack: "There was a deafening noise, and then I remember the bus nearly tipping over. I looked behind me and saw blood on the floor. Smoke, screams. I remember being at the hospital later that night, waiting for Marc Bartra, who had his wrist badly cut up."
"The next day, someone told me that a huge piece of shrapnel was lodged in the headrest of the seat next to Marc. My usual seat. That day, the seat was empty."
Connection to injury lay-off
Merino explained that his decision to sit elsewhere saved his life: "My legs were feeling a bit tight, and the seats in the front reclined. So I sat up there instead, and it may have saved my life. So yeah, I just have this belief that things happen for a reason."
The 30-year-old revealed that the near-miss nine years prior helped him come to terms with his injury lay-off at Arsenal last season. He suffered a fractured foot last January, ultimately requiring two screws to be inserted into his left foot.
He said: "The specialist who did the scan had never seen a stress fracture in that part of the foot. He'd been doing this for 30 years. He had called five of the best specialists in the world, and none of them had seen it either."
"Nobody knew how my foot would recover, or if it would recover at all. Part of me feared that I would never play football again. 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."
