Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has described how a small change of seat on the team coach may have saved his life during the 2017 Borussia Dortmund bus attack. The Spaniard spoke about the bombing in an interview with The Players’ Tribune.
Merino was 20 at the time. Dortmund’s coach was hit by explosives on the way to a home Champions League game against Monaco. Three bombs packed with metal pins had been hidden in a hedge and went off as the bus drove past.
A large piece of shrapnel ended up stuck in the headrest of the seat Merino normally used. That day he sat somewhere else. His legs felt a little tight, and the seats at the front reclined.
“I think I have an angel on my shoulder,” he said. “I’m actually fortunate to be alive at all.” He remembered a deafening noise and the bus almost tipping over. He also recalled blood on the floor, smoke in the air and people screaming.
Hospital wait and the aftermath
Merino went to the hospital afterwards to wait for team-mate Marc Bartra, who had an operation on a broken wrist. The match was moved to the next day. Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel, now the England boss, criticised that decision. Sergei Wenergold, a German of Russian origin, went to prison in 2018 after admitting the attack.
The bus story is one part of a longer interview. Merino also talked about his return from a stress fracture in his right foot in February. Five months later he lifted the World Cup with Spain.
Racing the clock for Spain
Doctors told him he would be out for six months. Merino said he did the sums straight away and worked out the World Cup was four months off. He said he only broke down when he told his wife, Lola. He later used his escape in Dortmund as extra motivation, saying “things happen for a reason”.
He had missed the final squad for the 2022 World Cup and did not want that again. Merino said he agreed to have two screws put in his foot for support. He argued with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and the physios for a week to get game time. The club agreed to give him half an hour in the last league game at Crystal Palace on 24 May. Spain boss Luis de la Fuente named his squad the next day.
Merino watched the announcement on TV from his sofa. His name came up on screen, and he hugged Lola and kissed his son Marco.
Source: BBC Sport
