Champions League – Mikel Merino, decisive against Real Madrid, arsenal symbol

Plato had said it in Book II of his Republic: “The necessity is the mother of the invention“. When Kai Havertz, himself a hybrid of 8 and 10 propelled to the head of the Arsenal attack by the game of circumstances, was injured during the Gunners training camp in Dubai in mid-February, we said that, given the long-term unavailability of Gabriel Jesus and, that, temporary, of Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Arteta Léandro Trossard to supplement the German striker.

In addition, the role of number 9, certainly rather false than true, was not completely foreign to the Belgian winger, who had already evolved in the axis several times this season. In a supporting role, yes, and without much success, perhaps, but, as the English say, “needs must” -” The necessity is law “. It is therefore trossard that we found in a point when moving the Gunners to Leicester on February 15.

The score was still 0-0 in the 69th minute of a match that Arsenal had to win. Only a victory would allow them to keep any hope that it is to remain in the wake of a Liverpool very close to disappear on the horizon. It was then that Mikel Arteta decided to turn to his Spanish midfielder. Trossard slipped on the left side. Merino placed himself in the axis at the top of the attack, a position he had not occupied since he had played for the pupils of the CD Amigo in his native navarre.

And since … you know what happened. The two goals of Arsenal's victory in Leicester, to which he added two others against Chelsea and Fulham in the Premier League; plus one against the PSV Eindhoven in the High Champions League; More that of 3-0 during the masterpiece of the Gunners during their quarter-final go against the supposed Madrid ogre. Beautifully made goals, moreover, from the head, the left and the right, which testified to the quality of the technical baggage of the person concerned.

For Merino, the surprise was total. He had not learned that Arta was thinking of making him a center-forward that when he had come across the newspaper article which evoked this possibility. It was also a surprise for Newcastle supporters, for whom the Pampelon had scored in all and for a whole goal in twenty-five appearances in the black and white jersey, eight years ago. And now he has scored more goals for his club since the injury of Kai Havertz, all competitions, than Harry Kane, Raphinha and Lautaro Martinez for theirs.

The merit of the success of this reinvention comes back to each other Mikel. The first knew how to think “out of the frame”, which we did not necessarily imagine being his strong, he, the man of the system; The second did everything to make his manager 'stroke of dice gives him a double six. The adequacy between the desires of one and the efforts of the other has the value of a symbol for Arsenal, a team that its manager builds on values ​​which, casually, are in the process of returning to fashion, because these virtues are also those of Inter, Barcelona and, now, from Paris Saint-Germain, which we will not complain about. Self -denial. Sense of sacrifice. Versatility. Generosity in effort. Absolute primacy of the collective.

In fact, this means that a player recruited last summer to provide an additional solution in the Arsenal machine room found himself bombed center-forward and flourished in a composition role. This means that a midfielder by training, Myles Lewis-Skelly, punctured the screen as a rear-left, and that even Léo Trossard, deemed to have his character, figured over the entire width of the front of the attack by the Londoners without expressing too many moods.

This means that the Arsenal players covered 21.2 kilometers more than those of Real Madrid on the two confrontations of this quarter -final and that no one was surprised to see Gabriel Martinelli rushed towards the goal of Thibaut Courtois in additional time as if his life depended. Jude Bellingham, who did not get out of this match or the previous one, had cut off his effort from the start of the Gunners. Not Mikel Merino, in the shoes of a 10, this time, which delivered the perfect pass in the race of his Brazilian teammate.

That Mikel Arteta has managed to share this state of mind with a group disturbed by injuries throughout the season speaks volumes about the moral qualities of each member of its workforce. Declan Rice, once again masterful in a double mission of creator and destructive, with the admirable Jakob Kiwior, supposed to be the weak link of a private defense of his Talisman Gabriel, all countersign the project of their manager. For Mikel Merino, it meant accepting a responsibility to which nothing had prepared it, to do it with a smile, moreover.

“This club will do things apart in the coming years“Said Rice on TNT Sports at the conclusion of Wednesday's victory.” We are all convinced. We all have total confidence in this manager. It is incredible “. Mikel Merino too.