**Mikel Merino’s incredible knack of scoring late winners have seen Spain reach the World Cup semi-finals, and helped him write some Arsenal history in the process.**
The midfielder has come off the bench twice for La Roja in the knockout stages and found himself in the right place to eliminate Portugal and Belgium.
Those goals saw him become the fifth different Gunner to score at this tournament, behind Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz, which represents the most we’ve had in a World Cup finals, surpassing the four players who netted at the 2006 World Cup. Only Paris Saint-Germain can say more of their squad have scored at these finals:
**Clubs' players with most goalscorers at WC 2026**
**Club**
**Goals**
**Scorers**
Paris Saint-Germain
14
9
**Arsenal**
**9**
**5**
Liverpool
7
5
Sunderland
8
5
Manchester United
7
4
Real Madrid
19
4
That quintet of Gunners have netted nine goals between them, smashing our previous best of six, achieved at the 1998 and 2006 World Cups. And with all four of our English representatives as well as William Saliba and Martin Zubimendi yet to score, that total could swell further in the coming week when it matters most. Our players have also registered 13 assists - more than any other club in the history of the World Cup has ever achieved:
**Clubs' players with most assists at a World Cup**
Club
Tournament
Assists
Arsenal
2026
13
Liverpool
2026
13
Bayern Munich
2026
12
Real Madrid
2026
11
Barcelona
1994
9
Benfica
1966
9
Bayern Munich
2010
9
Bayern Munich
2014
9
Inter Milan
1998
9
The nine goals and 13 assists give us a total of 22 goal involvements, placing us second in the standings for that particular metric:
**Clubs' players with most goal involvements at WC2026**
Club
Goals
Assists
Total
Real Madrid
19
11
30
Arsenal
9
13
22
PSG
14
7
21
Bayern Munich
8
12
20
Liverpool
7
13
20
Newcastle
5
7
12
Inter Miami
8
3
11
Crystal Palace
8
2
10
That creativity has been evident in Trossard’s displays for Belgium, who has laid on 17 chances for his teammates, which is only behind Lionel Messi who has 21. Declan Rice will be hoping to climb further from his joint-seventh position, having carved out 13 goalscoring opportunities for his England teammates.
With our four Three Lions all featuring regularly throughout their run to the semis, this World Cup is also the one in which our squad has won the most England caps. Our quartet have amassed 20 between them so far from their six matches, and has helped us surpass the 1,000 cap mark in England’s history.
The previous high was 15 claimed by David Seaman, Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell at the 2002 finals, and with two more games guaranteed to come before now and Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke and Ebere Eze return home, that figure could almost be doubled this time around.
They are four of eight Gunners still harbouring hopes of winning the World Cup, only Barcelona (10) and Atletico Madrid (9) have more of their squad holding the same dreams. However, only players from Bayern Munich and Manchester City have racked up more minutes since the action got underway last month.
**Clubs' players with most minutes at WC2026**
Club
Minutes
Bayern Munich
5,409
Man City
5,027
Arsenal
4,285
PSG
4,273
Real Madrid
3,804
Liverpool
3,485
Barcelona
3,464
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