Merino made his debut with the former CD Málaga in the First Division at El Molinón on 14th May 1989, in a Sporting – Málaga game which ended in a 1-2 win for the Blue and Whites. Merino scored the two goals in minute one and 61 of play: “The first was a shot from Lauridsen, it landed at my feet and I found the net. The rival then equalised and we won 1-2 thanks to an assist from Esteban on the right that I ploughed into the back of the net. We were in the relegation zone and this victory gave us a breather.”
“In that team were Jaro, Chano, Ruiz, Clemente, Matosas, Hassan, Emilio, Juanito…I was in the reserve team, and that week Paquito was injured and Antonio Benítez gave me a chance,” says Merino who made his debut at 20 years of age as a striker at the start of his footballing career. “The night before I barely slept as I was so nervous. I was in the same room as Boquerón’ Esteban, who calmed me down and along with Juan (the eternal Juan Gómez ‘Juanito’), he looked after me.”
Match stats (Sporting de Gijón 1-2 CD Málaga)
Sporting - Aranguren: Pedro Rodríguez; Cundi, Jiménez, Kevin Moran, Tati, Felipe, Emilio (Óscar 78’), Joaquín, Juanma (Narciso 45’), Eraña and Joaquín Villa.
Málaga - Benítez: Jaro; Jaime Molina, Ruiz, Álvarez, Chano, Luis Merino, Lauridsen (Antonio Mata 89’), Azuaga, Clemente, Esteban Vigo and Juanito (Matosas 88’).
Goals: 0-1 (1’): Luis Merino. 1-1 (49’): Narciso. 1-2 (61’) Luis Merino.
Referee: Antonio Taboada Soto (Vigo, Pontevedra). Yellow cards were shown to ‘Malaguistas’: Chano and Azuaga.
Information: 32nd First Division match of the 1988/89 season, held at El Molinón.
