Mikel Merino Reveals His Favourite Thing About Newcastle Since Summer Loan Move

Mikel Merino is throughly enjoying life as a Newcastle United player, having joined the Tyneside club on a season-long loan from Borussia Dortmund - and praised the fight and spirit of his new side in their 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday. 

Quoted by the Shields Gazette this week, he said: "It doesn’t matter if we are losing by one, we keep fighting, and in the end we have our important point - our goal - and this is how this team works." 

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The 21-year-old claimed that the character of the squad stems from manager Rafa Benitez, adding: "This means that this team has heart - a really good mentality - and it doesn’t matter if we’re one down or one up, we have to keep fighting." 

Having made seven appearances for Borussia Dortmund last season, Merino is used to playing in front of passionate home fans and he admitted that he enjoyed his first taste of St James' Park, gushing: "The crowd was incredible.

"It helps us a lot, and the team’s really, really happy about that. What we want to do is to keep the mood and to keep the crowd going like this." 

An equaliser from Joselu earned the Magpies a point against Liverpool on Sunday, preventing them from sliding to back-to-back defeats having been beaten at Brighton - and the Spaniard admitted after the match: "It was a tough game and everyone can see how good this team (Liverpool) is." 

Newcastle travel to Southampton after the international break, before returning to St James' Park to face Crystal Palace.