Merino reveals shrapnel in his usual seat nearly killed him in 2017 Dortmund bombing

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino has revealed he narrowly escaped death in the April 2017 bombing of the Borussia Dortmund team bus, after learning that a large piece of shrapnel was found embedded in the headrest of his usual seat — a seat he had vacated only because his legs felt tight before the journey.

Three pipe bombs detonated alongside the Dortmund bus as it travelled to Signal Iduna Park for a Champions League quarter-final against Monaco. Defender Marc Bartra was among two people injured, sustaining a fractured and badly cut wrist that required hospital treatment. There were no fatalities.

Merino, then 20 and on loan at Dortmund, was supposed to be sitting directly next to Bartra. Writing in The Players’ Tribune, he described the moment the bombs went off: “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.”

It was only the following day that the full extent of his luck became clear. “Someone told me that a huge piece of shrapnel was lodged in the headrest of the seat next to Marc,” Merino wrote. “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.”

Now 30 and a key figure in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal squad, Merino said the experience shaped how he dealt with a serious foot injury last season. He fractured his foot in January 2024 in a manner so unusual that the specialist who diagnosed it — with 30 years of experience — had never encountered it before, and consulted five other leading specialists worldwide, none of whom had seen anything similar.

Facing the possibility that he might never play again, Merino opted for surgery. “They told me they could drill two screws into my foot to give it support,” he said. “I was like, vamos, put ‘em in.”

He credits the perspective gained from surviving the Dortmund attack with helping him through that period of uncertainty. “I think I have an angel on my shoulder,” he said. “I just have this belief that things happen for a reason.”