Nacho Monreal has looked like Arsenal’s most composed defender in many of the Gunners’ recent matches, but the Spaniard revealed to the club website that he’s not always so calm.

Nacho told Arsenal.com that his debut for the Gunners was the match that made him most nervous, saying: “I would say the game I felt the most pressure in was definitely my debut. I’d only signed for Arsenal two days before it, it was a home game against Stoke which we won 1-0. I remember feeling nervous before that game.”

As for the most nerve-wracking non-Arsenal match: “That would have been my national team debut. I played the last 15 minutes or so and I remember having nerves before it.”

As Nacho mentions, his debut against Stoke was a successful one, with the Gunners winning the match and keeping a clean sheet, so clearly he found a way to deal with the pressure on the day.

When it comes to the debut for Spain, it’s a similar story.

Spain were playing Macedonia back in August 2009, and Monreal was named on the bench. Spain went 2-0 down, but managed to come back to lead 3-2 by the 56th minute.

As it was an international friendly, Spain then made a number of substitutions to give some other players a chance to help secure the result. One of these was Nacho, who came on for Joan Capdevila. He successfully helped Spain to close out the match, for another debut win.

Monreal has gone through bad periods of form in the past, and even drew critics just a month or so ago, playing in the unfamiliar centre-back position.

But from what I’ve seen, the Spaniard always manages to find a way to prove himself again, and he’s overcome the pressure to be one of Arsenal’s key performers at the moment.