http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 in Euro 2012
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 defender, Per Mertesacker has revealed that he is relishing the opportunity to go up against his teammate, Robin Van Persie in the Euro 2012.
The two players are set to face off against each other in the group stages, with both http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 being seeded in Group B. As a result, despite all their commitment towards each other at Arsenal, they will be looking to get the better of each
other at the end of the Premier League season.
Mertesacker has also gone on to reveal that Van Persie, along with him is just as excited about facing his teammate.
The German international, when talking about Van Persie’s reaction is quoted to have said: “He said he would be happy to see me next summer - that was the first thing he said after the draw”
However, the defender then went on to make it clear that the game was not going to be a friendly and that both of them would be looking to expose each others weaknesses.
“This is not a friendly though, it's a tough game and therefore both of us want to go through the group stage.”
Mertesacker is quite confident that Germany are going to go far in the tournament, given the fact that the team has been performing brilliantly, every time they have taken to the pitch.
Over the course of the last three tournaments that the team has played, they managed to make it to one final and two semi-finals. That in itself proves just how good the team really is at the moment.
“We have had many chances in the last three big tournaments. We went to two semi-finals and one final and that's good for us but if you get that far it's better to get the title. I think that's the main point for the next tournament.”
Mertesacker has gone on to improve tremendously, following his move to Arsenal at the start of the season.
The defender went from being a slow paced defender, who kept making careless mistakes, to one of the most consistent performers for the team.
His tackling has now improved significantly and his ability to win aerial battles has always been his greatest asset.
Given the fact that he has already managed to make seventy nine appearances for the national team, it is safe to say that he will be representing his country a whole lot more, over the course of the coming years.
It is now a wait to see just which one of the two Arsenal players manages to get the upper hand over the other.
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