‘I'm not sure about another back-heel!' – Alessia Russo on facing Sweden in quarter-finals and scoring first Euro 2025 goal against Wales

Yahoo

4 days ago

Alessia Russo was delighted to score her first goal of Euro 2025 as England beat Wales 6-1 in another convincing display in St Gallen.
The Arsenal striker was the joint top goalscorer in the Women's Super League last season, but had failed to score in England's first two fixtures in Switzerland, despite assisting three goals in the Lionesses 4-0 victory over the Netherlands.
Russo joined Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Lauren Hemp, Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones on the scoresheet in St Gallen, as the Lionesses secured a quarter-final with Sweden.
'It feels nice [to get my first goal],' Russo said. 'I want to be scoring as much as I can. It took a bit longer than I would have liked but as much as I can contribute to the team in any possible way, I'll always do.
'I'm really excited, It was a positive result. Again, a big performance was needed. We knew we still needed to win this game to get out of the group and keep progressing. I think our turnaround since the France game has been really exciting.
'Things don't always go how you plan them to. But we knew that we still had a massive chance to get out of this group [after losing to France] and keep progressing in this tournament and that's what we want.
'We want to be here right until the end so the reaction was really important and I think you could see that in the performances against Netherlands and Wales'.
Despite an early scare which saw England lose their first match 2-1 to France, England beat Netherlands and Wales to qualify to the knockout stages.
Sarina Wiegman's side finished second in group D to set up a quarter-final clash with Sweden, who won all of their three games in group C, only conceding one goal.
They go head-to-head in Zurich on Thursday. The last time these two teams met at the Euros, England beat Sweden 4-0 with Russo's incredible backheel goal grabbing the headlines in that 2022 semi-final.
'I'm not sure about [another] backheel,' Russo joked. 'But as long as we win, that's all that matters.
'Sweden are a top side. They've got lots of talented players and they play really well together. We'll have to look into them over the next few days and get ready for a really tough game. It's knockout football – it's all down to one game, so we'll do everything we can to be ready for it.
'We want to go out and keep this momentum going. We know that knockout football is all down to that game and that game in the moment. So, yeah, we'll be ready and we'll do everything we can to win the game.'
Russo also expressed her pride at seeing her best friend Toone perform at her best in Switzerland, after a tough year which saw the Manchester United forward lose her father.
'She's been great,' Russo added. 'She's been working really hard on lots of different things.
'So as a best mate to see someone go on a journey like that, especially after a tough year, it's really nice to see her flourish on the big stage.'