Mikel Merino said he was proud to take the armband and lead us to victory, delivering a captain’s performance to help beat Ipswich 4-2 in the Carabao Cup.
Our Spaniard bagged a goal and an assist in the third round triumph at Portman Road and after the display, Mikel said it was an honour to lead us out.
“It’s a huge honour,” he said. “I’m so proud, and to represent this club in this way, wearing the armband – many legends have done it before me. To me it’s happiness and I try to do the best thing I can to represent this club, and I know how big it is to wear the armband, so I’m really happy.”
Mikel produced a fine chip over the top to help Noni Madueke score before placing one in off the cap off a fine night in the middle of the park.
Talking us through his contributions, he said: “I think the assist was high pressure on the team, where I’m really alive to find that second ball and find Noni, and then he finishes with a really nice finish, and then the goal is a really good action from the team in the last third – when I get the ball, I can open the first touch and then just put it where the ‘keeper couldn’t get, so very, very happy, always good to be on the scoresheet, and will keep looking to score more goals.”
The game saw Max Dowman score twice on his first start of the season. The 16-year-old became our second-youngest scorer in the competition, and Mkel was full of praise for his teammate.
“He’s an unbelievable talent, honestly, so young, so alive and you can see the joy in his eyes when he plays football.
“Obviously, many things to improve – he’s very young – he needs to keep listening and learning from the veterans, but we’re here to support him and we’re going to get him to the best version of himself, for sure.”
Mikel showed his appreciation for our supporters when celebrating his goal. The supporters have been all over the UK in recent weeks and speaking ahout the supporters, he said: “It doesn’t matter where we go, they’re there, behind us, supporting, giving us all the strength, and that’s what we need to keep doing big things – being a good union between supporters and players.
“We’re used to it [the schedule], we know that we have all day travelling. Sometimes it’s hard to get away with family and friends, but it’s our job, it’s our passion, and we do it for the shirt. Yeah, tough challenges in front of us, but we’re ready for them, for sure.