‘We are going to win’ – Merino defends Arsenal’s performance against PSG despite disappointment of defeat | OneFootball

Mikel Merino warned people not to write off his Arsenal side despite suffering a first-leg defeat to PSG in the Champions League semi-final.

The Gunners will have to overturn a one-goal deficit in Paris if they are to reach the Champions League final after Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal of the game at the Emirates.

But Merino defended his side’s performance and says there is reason to feel confident.

“Why am I optimistic? Okay, based on what I have seen tonight, I think you have seen a team that can compete against a huge side like Paris,” he said.

“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.

“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 so we are going to Paris with the mentality of sticking to our basics, sticking to our standards and try to win.

“I think 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.”

Merino also says the players can take encouragement from their away win against Real Madrid in the last round.

“Yeah, 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,” he said.

“Paris is a tough place to go but still 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.”