Arsenal will face Real Madrid over two legs in the Champions League after the international break, with the outcome of the tie likely to define Mikel Arteta’s team’s season.
The Gunners won’t be winning the Premier League title, as they currently sit 12 points behind Liverpool with nine games remaining.
However, success in Europe’s elite competition remains a possibility, and Arteta will presumably put all his eggs into that basket for the remainder of the campaign.
Arsenal host Real Madrid on 8th April, before travelling to the Spanish capital to take on Los Blancos in the second leg at the Bernabeu a week later.
Mikel Merino set to train with Real Madrid centre-back Raul Asencio
With Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus out injured, and Leandro Trossard struggling up front, Mikel Arteta called upon Mikel Merino to play up front against Leicester in mid-February, and hasn’t budged on this move since.
The Spaniard was introduced off the bench against the Foxes, scored twice, and has since started every game for Arsenal as a striker.
Havertz and Jesus won’t feature again this season, which may mean that this centre-forward spot is Merino’s for the foreseeable future.
Likely to start there against Real Madrid, the midfielder has the benefit of being able to closely observe how Carlo Ancelotti’s new central defender Raul Asencio operates over the next week.
The 22-year-old burst onto the scene this season, and has established himself as an ever-present figure at the heart of the La Liga giants’ back four, next to Antonio Rudiger.
Earning his first call-up to the Spanish national team this month, Asencio and Merino will be teammates over the international break, before they directly face each other in the Champions League in April.
“I’ve seen him on television but it’s good to see him up close,” Merino told the Guardian.
“But it’ll be different on the pitch. We know Madrid are hard but we’re excited.”
Looking to gain a marginal advantage ahead of the European showdown, Merino will likely be forensically examining his counterpart in training, trying to pick up on subtle nuances in Asencio’s game that he can exploit.
Mikel Merino is ‘confident’ ahead of Champions League clash
Arsenal beat Real Madrid the last time they played them in the Champions League, knocking La Casa Blanca out of the competition in 2006.
Arteta’s side be hoping to replicate the exploits of that Arsene Wenger team next month, and Merino is confident that they have the ability to do so.
“It’s a historic game for the club,” he said. “It’s true that Liverpool are a bit far away in the Premier League but the Champions League is special.
“We’re excited. We’ve dominated most games, were very good in the qualifying [group] phase and managed to rest players in the second leg [against PSV]. We’re confident.
“They’re extremely good technically and also have the mentality that, when things aren’t going well, thinks: our moment will come and when it does we’ll win. And experience has proven them right.
“We know Madrid’s history but we have to know that we’re really good too, that we’re getting better, and that we can beat anyone.”
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