Euro 2022 winner Alessia Russo says the Lionesses will ‘keep pushing for girls to play football’

Virgin Radio

4 Aug 2022, 09:48

Lioness Alessia Russo joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about England’s Euro 2022 triumph, the upcoming Women’s Super League season, getting girls involved in football, and that backheel goal! 

Alessia provided one of the iconic moments of the tournament with her stunning backheel goal in the semi-final against Sweden, one of four she scored in Euro 2022, and she came off the bench to help the Lionesses beat Germany in the Final at Wembley on Sunday (31st July). Speaking about the Germany game, she told Ricky Wilson, who is in this week for Chris: “When the final whistle went, and even when Chloe [Kelly] scored the winning goal, the crowd just erupted, and it was just like, ‘This is mega’, and the celebrations after, and then we got to have a little party with all our friends and family, and it was just celebrating a great month of football.”

The Manchester United striker added: “When the final whistle went, it was actually a bit of relief as well, like, ‘Wow, we’ve actually done this.’ A first major tournament, in England, so long since England had won a big tournament, so it was a special, special night.”

And now, the former Brighton and Hove Albion forward says that it’s important to keep the momentum around women’s football going. “We have a game against the USA in October, which will be great, at Wembley again, and then we have a World Cup next summer, so it’s exciting times for women’s football. And then obviously the WSL season starts in a couple of weeks. So yeah, [it’s a] good time to be a fan!”

Speaking about the history of women’s football in England, Alessia said: “Obviously the last time England won a major trophy was 1966 and, 50 years ago, women’s football wasn’t even allowed, it was banned in the country, which is crazy. And then for us to go on and win the next major trophy for England… it’s come full circle.” 

With regard to future generations of women footballers, the Lioness told Ricky: “Us as players, and role models now I guess, have got to keep pushing for girls to play football. We recently wrote a letter to the Government about how we want to keep encouraging girls to play football, because I think only 63 percent of girls can play football in PE at school, which is crazy considering every single boy can play.”

She added: “There were so many young girls, and young boys, at the stadiums, cheering us on with banners, and to think that they can’t even play at school is crazy. So, I think, for us, we’ve got to keep pushing for people to get involved, and making sure they have the opportunities to do so.”

When asked what advice she would have for young girls who want to get into playing the beautiful game, Alessia said: “Just do it! I grew up playing with boys, and, as much as I wish I could have played for a girls team, just get stuck in, get involved and we’ll keep pushing for that. And yeah, you can go and play in front of 90,000 people at Wembley, so what more do you want!?”

The England striker also spoke to Ricky about scoring that goal against Sweden in the semi-final at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane. “I should have scored the first shot, so I thought, ‘I need to do something about this,’ and I had a player in front of me, so I couldn’t turn with the ball. So, the backheel was the quickest route to the goal, and luckily enough it went in!” she explained.

And regarding where the boots with which she scored that cheeky goal are now, the Lioness told Ricky: “I dropped them off a couple of days ago to the Tower of London with the Beefeaters, and they put them next to the Crown Jewels!”

Keep up to date with the Lionesses on Twitter, and if you want more women’s football in your life as the WSL season kicks off next month, here’s how you can follow it on talkSPORT.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.