Arsenal midfielder and hero of Spain at Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 - Mikel Merino, told about the biggest difficulties he has gone through in his career.
As is known, in February Merino received one of the hardest news of his career. After a fracture of a bone in his right foot, doctors told him that recovery would take about six months. Only four months remain until the 2026 World Cup, and the prospect of participating in it seems almost impossible. Even the best specialists have difficulty determining the appropriate treatment. One of the doctors tells him directly: “Mikel, I'm sorry. It's impossible“.
Despite the serious diagnosis, the footballer did not give up. Weeks of tests, treatment and rehabilitation followed, during which his wife Lola, who was expecting a child at the time, was by his side. Merino admits that in the most difficult moments he felt uncomfortable continuing to ask her for help, but it was her support that helped him keep his faith and move forward.
This is not the first time he has been exposed to enormous pressure. When he was only 20 years old and playing for Borussia Dortmund, the team bus was attacked with three bombs on the way to a Champions League match. The explosions shook the bus, followed by chaos, smoke and panic. Merino remembers seeing blood on the floor and waiting in the hospital that evening for his teammate Marc Bartra, who was seriously injured in the wrist.
„I'm lucky to be alive. I was 20 years old and playing for Borussia Dortmund when our bus was attacked with three bombs while we were travelling to a Champions League match. There was a deafening noise and then I remember the bus almost overturning. I turned around and saw blood on the floor. Smoke, screams. I remember being in the hospital that night waiting for Marc Bartra, whose wrist was badly broken. The next day someone told me that a huge piece of shrapnel had lodged itself in the headrest of the seat next to Marc. The seat I usually sat in. But that day it was empty. My legs were a bit heavy and the front seats could be reclined. So I sat there. And that is probably what saved my life," the Arsenal midfielder told "The Players’ Tribune".