Arsenal star Mikel Merino admits he is ‘fortunate to be alive’ after Champions League terror assault

Arsenal star Mikel Merino has admitted he’s “lucky to be alive” and he has “an angle looking over him” after the terror attack on Borussia Dortmund’s bus

An Arsenal star has admitted he’s “lucky to be alive” after he was involved in a Champions League terror attack. Mikel Merino was on the Borussia Dortmund bus that was attacked back in 2017.

Dortmund’s bus was hit by explosives en route to their Champions League semi-final against Monaco – three bombs that had been filled with metal pins and hidden in a hedge, exploded as the bus passed.

And opening up on the attack in his feature for the Players Tribune, Merino 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.

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“A lot of young people probably would not even believe that it happened, or how bad it was, but it marked us all. 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. 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 match against Monaco was postponed until the following day, while Sergei Wenergold, a German of Russian origin, was sent to prison in 2018 after he admitted to the attack.