Arsenal are still confident they can beat PSG — let them explain why | OneFootball

Mikel Merino may have the enviable reputation of a man for the big occasion. His first goal for Arsenal came against Liverpool. He has a winner against Chelsea to his name. There was a strike in a victory over Real Madrid which means that, of all the clubs he has faced in his career, he has scored the most against the serial Champions League winners. He struck for Spain against the Netherlands this season and delivered a 119th-minute winner against the hosts Germany in a Euro 2024 quarter-final.

Briefly it seemed as though a talismanic figure had picked his moment again in arguably Arsenal’s biggest game in 16 years. A few minutes into the second half against Paris Saint-Germain, with Arsenal trailing but acquiring momentum. He headed in Declan Rice’s free kick. The Emirates Stadium celebrated raucously. Then it waited nervously. Then it was disappointed. “5cm offside changes the whole game,” reflected the man who put the ball in the net, but who was not the scorer.

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Merino thinks Arsenal have the ‘mentality’ to come from behind (Getty Images)

And yet, Merino sought to maintain, not the whole tie. Arsenal head to the Parc des Princes next week with a 1-0 deficit, rather than being level. Mikel Arteta described it as “half-time”. Merino sought to shrug off the scoreline. “I think it changes nothing because the mentality of this team is always going to win, even if you are three up or one down,” he said.

Arsenal have recent experience of heading to one of the cathedrals of European football three up. They took that advantage to the Bernabeu, courtesy of the surreal first leg against Real Madrid when Rice and Merino were twinned on the scoresheet. They built on it in the Spanish capital, Merino setting up both goals in a 2-1 triumph.

“Those experiences are massive for us,” said Merino. “To prove we can win anywhere, the Bernabeu, against any side in the Premier League as well, gives us a lot of confidence.” A repeat of that 2-1 victory in his native Spain would only take Arsenal to extra time in France. Their previous Champions League trip yielded the kind of outcome that would bring emphatic progress, though the 7-1 thrashing of PSV Eindhoven has the feel of an anomaly. They have, however, also beaten Sporting CP 5-1 in Lisbon.

In the Premier League, Arsenal won at Aston Villa in August but arguably, their two previous defining away victories in England came shortly before Merino’s summer arrival, at the expense of Tottenham and Manchester United. This year, they have been hard to beat on their travels, but victories have been too few.

There are, though, reasons why Merino is positive, and they stem beyond his upbeat personality. “Why am I optimistic?” he asked rhetorically. “Based on what I have seen tonight, I think you have seen a team that can compete against a huge side like Paris. If you saw Paris in the whole season, they are a really dominant team, they want to keep everybody in their own box and we managed to play a lot, we created big chances. This team, you never can give up on us because I think we proved that we always going to fight until the end.”

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Arteta still believes Arsenal can reach the Champions League final (PA Wire)

Arsenal can reflect on those big chances: for Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, in particular. They had more shots on target than PSG, more touches in the box, a higher expected goals. Yet all of that came within the context of Ousmane Dembele’s fourth-minute opener. And if the statistics suggested Arsenal shaded the first leg, the impression offered at the Emirates was that PSG are the more compelling side.

Certainly Merino could testify to one of their areas of strength. After proving a revelation as a false nine over the last couple of months, he reverted to his more normal position in the reshuffle caused by Thomas Partey’s suspension. It put him up against Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz and Vitinha. “They are a top midfield, they are a bunch of players that have a lot of dynamism, they change position all the time,” he said.

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Merino is denied by Neves in the box (Getty Images)

Arsenal’s players could change position for the second leg; or a couple of them, anyway. With Partey available again, the probability is that Rice will revert to the No 8 role that brought two barnstorming displays against Real. In turn, that may mean Merino displaces Trossard from the attack.

Those decisions rest with Arteta but Merino’s reaction to defeat was to try and set the right tone. “Obviously the dressing room but straight away we are thinking that the best mentality is to be positive,” he added. “We had massive chances to level the game, we couldn’t, but the team is full of confidence and full of energy for the second leg.”

Arsenal, he thinks, were not down and out in London. Now it is Paris and he said: “With all due respect to anybody, I think we are going to win the second leg.” And Merino's record in major matches suggests it could be his kind of night.