"I think I have an angel on my shoulder." Those were Mikel Merino's words as he looked back on the 2017 Borussia Dortmund bus bombing, saying a change in where he sat may have kept him out of the path of shrapnel. Three pipe bombs detonated near the bus, and Merino says the attack left blood on the floor, smoke and screams around him.
The seat he did not usually take
Merino said a huge piece of shrapnel was lodged in the headrest of his usual seat. He had moved forward because the seats in front reclined, and that was the difference. He described a deafening noise, the bus nearly tipping over, and later being in hospital waiting for Marc Bartra, who had his wrist badly cut up.
That account matters because it is so ordinary at the start. A tight pair of legs, a reclining seat, a small switch in routine. On this occasion, that was enough for Merino to say, "I'm actually fortunate to be alive at all."
Tuchel's complaint about UEFA
The bombing was also an institutional mess. Thomas Tuchel said UEFA informed Borussia Dortmund by text message that the match would go ahead, and that the players were not asked whether they wanted to play after the attack. He called it a very bad feeling and said there was a feeling of helplessness.
Merino's account keeps the human side of that night front and centre. The attack took place during the 2017 Borussia Dortmund bus bombing, and the football decisions around it still sit awkwardly beside the survival story. What remains fixed is the detail Merino repeated: he moved seats, a piece of shrapnel landed where he would have been, and he was on the bus when three pipe bombs detonated near it.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
