Mikel Merino - News 24web

Mikel Merino knows Arsenal have a ‘tough’ task in their Champions League second leg with Paris Saint-Germain but believes his team can lean on their experiences at the Bernabeu to inspire a turnaround.

Mikel Arteta’s side face a tall order in the second leg at the Parc Des Princes after they lost 1-0 at the Emirates in Tuesday’s first leg.

PSG, seen by many as the tournament favourites, took the lead through Ousmane Dembele’s early goal and saw the game out to take a one-goal advantage back to France.

Arsenal will need to overturn that deficit in the away second leg if they want to reach their first Champions League final since 2006.

But after their impressive display in Spain earlier this month to knock out defending champions Real Madrid, Merino sees no reason why his team should not fancy their chances of upsetting the odds once again.

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‘Those experiences are massive for us to prove we can win anywhere, the Bernabeu, against any side in the Premier League as well, it gives us a lot of confidence,’ said Merino.

‘Paris is a tough place to go but still we have proved always that we can compete against anybody and, with all due respect to anybody, I think we are going to win the second leg.

‘Based on what I have seen tonight, I think you have seen a team that can compete against a huge side like Paris.

‘I don’t know if you saw Paris in the whole season but they are a really dominant team, they want to keep everybody on 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, so I think we have the technical quality and most important we have the motivation to go to the second leg and win this for our fans and for ourselves.’

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Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright was left surprised by Arsenal’s stand-offish approach to the tie, particularly in the opening quarter of the game.

But Merino believes his side showed more than enough threat throughout the game to give themselves confidence heading into next week’s second leg.

‘I think today we saw a team that can compete against anybody, 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,’ he added.

‘Obviously the dressing room was disappointed because of the loss, because we always want to win, even more in front of our fans.

‘But straight away we are thinking that the best mentality is to be positive, obviously learn from our mistakes today, take the positives, study the opponent and go for the second leg full of energy.

‘We are going to Paris with the mentality of sticking to our basics, sticking to our standards and try to win.’

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