Arsenal star makes huge Champions League promise after Real Madrid demolition

Mikel Merino has made a bullish promise to the fans .

The Spaniard scored Arsenal's third goal in the 3-0 first leg win at the Emirates Stadium last Tuesday, and was integral to their 2-1 success on the night in Madrid on Wednesday.

Merino assisted both of Arsenal's goals at the Santiago Bernabeu. He slipped in Bukayo Saka to score their opener on 65 minutes, before then playing the pass that allowed Gabriel Martinelli to break clear and slot beyond Thibaut Courtois in stoppage-time.

Despite the fact Arsenal have just beaten the 15-time European champions - and in convincing fashion - Merino believes "the best is yet to come" from this team.

Speaking in an Instagram post, Merino, who has 805,000 followers, said: "Massive win at the Bernabeu! Incredibly proud to be making history with this TEAM!!! The best is yet to come! We keep going [flexed bicep emoji, red love heart emoji, dart emoji, dart emoji] COYG."

Declan Rice was among the Arsenal players to show their appreciation for Merino in the comments section. The midfielder said: "This player [red love heart emoji, smiling face with heart eyes emoji]."

Saka, the scorer of Arsenal's first goal at the Santiago Bernabeu, added: "So good."

Meanwhile, Jurrien Timber shared how every Arsenal supporter felt, saying: "You are insane."

Merino has been excellent for Arsenal over recent months, stepping into the No.9 role with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz out - and he has suited that position. His performance against Real Madrid in the second leg was another fabulous one and he's really showing why the Gunners signed him last summer.

Arsenal as a team were excellent in Madrid and Arteta admitted during his post-match press conference that he doesn't think he has felt prouder of his players. "Probably not," the Spaniard replied.

"Not only because we're in the semi-final for the third time in our history now, but also because of the way we did it. Not only because of the way we played - but also because of the circumstances - the amount of injuries we had. That shows the character of this team, of this club, and it's a night to be very proud of."

Next up for Arsenal in the Champions League is Paris Saint-Germain, who scraped past Aston Villa 5-4 to reach the last four. When asked if the Gunners can go from challengers to winners, Arteta said: "It's certainly another massive step.

"Where we finished last year and the way we're doing it this year, teams with their eyes on us and the competition, it's incredible. Big credit to [Madrid], it was my first time as a coach in that dugout and I realised after three minutes in this stadium, anything is possible.

"They are specialists of creating such chaos and belief, and it's very difficult to understand really what's going on in the game and have certain certainty about how we controlled it. They showed a lot of maturity."