Euros backheel and vineyard dreams - Russo in her own words

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation's favourite sport.

We'll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Interviews will drop on across BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website. This week's interview will be broadcast on BBC One from 23:55 BST on Saturday, 20 September.

Alessia Russo has risen to global prominence with her performances for club and country in recent years.

The forward has won the European Championship twice with England, and was part of Arsenal's Champions League-winning squad earlier this year.

Russo scored four goals - all from the bench - during the Lionesses' successful Euro 2022 campaign, then started every game three years later as they retained their title in Switzerland.

Her goal against Spain in the final forced extra time, before Sarina Wiegman's side secured a stunning penalty shootout victory over the world champions.

The 26-year-old Ballon d'Or nominee sat down with Kelly Somers to talk about her life-changing move to the US as a teenager, her close family bond and that backheel.

Kelly Somers: What does football mean to you?

Alessia Russo: Football has always been everything to me. It was always football that I wanted to do. My passion has always been football. Passion is the word that first comes to mind - love, and just enjoyment. I have so much fun out on the pitch. From such an early age to now, although things are a lot more serious these days, football has always meant to me that love of the game and being introduced to it as a kid.

Kelly: Are you still able to keep that same love and childish enjoyment now? Or has it changed as you've had more success?

Alessia: I try to. It is hard when it is so intense and there is so much on the line all the time, but I always say I play my best football when I am enjoying it and I'm free and in a good place mentally. I try to keep as much of that love for the game when I was a kid into the game now. Ultimately that is why I started and why I am so grateful and happy to be able to do it every day now.

Kelly: What is your first memory of playing?

Alessia: I have two older brothers and I used to play with them in the garden all the time. My dad coached their team so I used to go down to the local park with them and try to get involved. They were older than me and in an all-boys team, so I had to bide my time a little bit. I was just kicking the ball around on the side, then I was eventually allowed to join in. I come from such a sporty family and my mum and dad never questioned me playing football, which I am so grateful for. Ever since I was a little kid they were buying me football boots and I think I lived in football kits as a kid. My mum was happy when I wanted the odd dress here and there, but they never ever thought football wasn't a place for girls, which was amazing for me and which is why I feel so fortunate to come from the family I have.

Kelly: What are your early memories of playing? Can you remember the other girls and boys?

Alessia: Originally it was just boys.

Kelly: Were you the only girl?

Alessia: Yeah. But I was really grateful that the group of boys I was with I went to primary school with, so I knew a lot of them. At first they were a bit like, 'why is a girl joining?' but for me it was a place to prove myself. I always had to be good enough to play with them and compete with them. I liked that challenge and I wanted to test myself against the boys that were bigger and stronger. I had to wait a little bit but after that I never looked back.

Kelly: Can you remember the point when people around you made you aware of how good you were?

Alessia : It was probably after I played at West Farleigh. I went to Bearsted, which was another all-boys team and they had an all-girls team as well. I played with the boys on the Saturday and the girls on the Sunday. My coach made me feel like I had potential, which was nice. He was still very harsh on me and wanted me to be training harder and playing harder, but I had a feeling he thought I could go somewhere. When I went to secondary school, my teachers really pushed me and got me into county teams and academy trials. It was honestly the belief of other people before myself.

Kelly: Can you remember any of those academy trials - or maybe ones that didn't go as well as you hoped?

Alessia: I had to trial at Charlton. That was a really good trial and I had one of the best sessions of my life. After that, the coach spoke to my dad and said they would like to offer me a place in the academy, and Dad told me on the way home, which was really nice.

Kelly: Did you watch Charlton's women's team when you were younger?

Alessia: Yeah. When I was in the academy, I was a mascot for Casey Stoney because she was the captain at one point. I remember being in the tunnel thinking, 'wow, this is amazing'. If you look now to what girls get to look up to in the stadiums we play at, and the amount of fans we have, it is crazy to see how far the game has developed. When you see these women at the top of their game, it does inspire you to want to go and do it. I was lucky that Dad took me to stadiums to see the ladies play, but now you can see us on TV, on TikTok, on anything. That is great because young girls can have role models that they can feel and see their journey.

Kelly: If I had to ask for one person who has had the most influence on your career, someone that has done something to get you to this point...

Alessia: I had a couple of really influential teachers at school. One was Luke Anderson and one was Mr Holliday, who sadly passed away. They both set me up for county trials in school and they took me under their wing. I went to the PE office in my lunch breaks and sat with them. They just wanted me to do so well and would give anything for me to be successful out on the pitch. Mr Holliday used to really embarrass me because I would play with the boys and girls in school and he would tell all the boys to pass to me, but that was mortifying for me. I hated that in front of all the boys, it was embarrassing. He was great. He used to make me feel like I was 10ft tall. As a young girl playing football with the boys, sometimes you probably needed a little bit of that.

Kelly: Has there been one moment where you think, 'if that hadn't happened, I might not be where I am today'?

Alessia: I think when I went to America and played three years out in college. I was very much a home bird. I used to hate going to my friends for sleepovers because I just wanted to be at home with my family. That was a big decision for me to go out there and live in North Carolina - the other side of the world - and play football in a surrounding I have never known. It was a really tough decision, but when I look back on my life, it was the best three years ever. I learned so much about myself. When you move out anywhere, you have to grow up quickly and I was on the other side of the world. The only person I knew there was Lotte [Wubben-Moy], who is with me now [at Arsenal], so it's nice to reminisce with her. Those three years changed me as a person. I understood a bit more about myself and my body and I went through my first injury out there. I also learned that football isn't everything, although it does feel like it. I found joy in other things and made friends for life.

Kelly: At what point did you meet Lotte?

Alessia: I've known Lotte since I was about 12 or 13 through England youth camps. She was at Arsenal and I was at Chelsea and Charlton in the academies. She is like the big sister to everyone - she knows what to do in stressful situations and handles things so smoothly.

Kelly: Everyone knows you are best friends with Ella Toone, and Ella sounds quite different to Lotte. So you have two very different friends when you are away with England and in football in general?

Alessia: For sure. Lotte is like my big sister, or more like my mum. Tooney is more like my younger sister - the one that makes you laugh and is annoying and you have to look after. Lotte is always looking after everyone else.

Kelly: What was it like coming back from college?

Alessia: I came back and signed for Manchester United.

Kelly: You were a United fan growing up right?

Alessia: I was. I never thought they would be interested in me as a kid coming out of college. It was a whole new world of being a full-time athlete. That college time and that time at United was a really impactful part of my journey.

Kelly: You went full circle with Casey Stoney because she was the manager that signed you at United?

Alessia: She was. When I signed, they put out photos of me holding Casey's hand walking out of the tunnel and then me signing with her. That was a full-circle moment. Casey was amazing for me when I signed at United. She made it really clear what she wanted from her players and for me - to be introduced to a first professional team - it made that transition really smooth.

Kelly: If you could relive one match from your career and the outcome could change, what would it be?

Alessia: The 2023 World Cup final against Spain. It hurt a lot after winning the Euros, and knowing how that felt, to get so close to the World Cup but then so far away at the same time. It left a hole in us as a team, but the way we bounced back in the Euros maybe wouldn't have happened if we won. I feel like everything happens for a reason.

Kelly: If you could relive one match and the outcome stayed the same, what would it be?

Alessia: I'm going to say the Euro 2022 final. That whole year and that tournament, and the impact that changed after that win was something we could never have imagined. The whole process of winning that tournament in England and then seeing the change, seeing the growth in the game, seeing everyone become a fan of women's football after... that was something I will always live with. The impact we had in that tournament... every player in that squad will tell you it was more than we ever imagined and we were just in our little bubble. Me and Tooney talk about it a lot. Going from nobody really knowing us, to pretty much overnight you are this England footballer that suddenly has won the Euros and the paparazzi are after you and you are getting these amazing opportunities that you would never have imagined pre-tournament. For both of us, that whole tournament completely changed our lives.

Kelly: Ellen White was still playing and you went into Euro 2022 probably knowing you weren't going to start, and then scored a goal that was up for the Puskas award, you win the Euros and you score goals that changed the course of England's tournament...

Alessia: I just wanted to soak up every moment. I heard from a lot of the older girls that it is really intense and tough and you are away from home and there are good times and bad times throughout the tournament. I just wanted to enjoy every day. I knew I wasn't going to be involved that much, especially in the starting XI. I just wanted to train really hard and be ready for anything.

Kelly: How many times have you watched the semi-final backheel against Sweden back?

Alessia: Not for a long time actually. It is funny because I am not really a skilful player, I more knock it and run. Chloe Kelly is a skilful player, I'm not. That moment was just so instinctive.

Kelly: You are incredibly humble but to say you aren't a skilful player is a wild thing to say. You won the Euros twice.

Alessia: Some players are really technical with stepovers.

Kelly: All you care about is scoring?

Alessia: Yeah. How it goes in, it doesn't matter. I always say in that tournament, Sarina gave us such freedom to express ourselves. I wouldn't normally do that. You don't do a backheel for fun, you do it if the moment is right. The confidence she instilled in us was really cool.

Kelly: Your family are incredibly important to you. Talk to me about your relationship now with your brothers.

Alessia: Giorgio went on Love Island this year. At first it was weird - I couldn't watch it. We were away at the Euros and I couldn't watch it in a big group because I needed to watch it on my own. Me and Tooney went and watched it every night, just us two. He did great - he is a lovely person and he did really well. That is all you can ask for as a sister. My other brother is involved in football and he is my agent, actually. They have always been a massive part of me as a person, my journey. I value their opinions. I talk football with them not as much as they want me to, but they are involved in the whole journey of me as a player and I always want to try to make them proud.

Kelly: Your dad was a police officer - was he quite strict growing up?

Alessia: I always say to him as he gets older, he gets so much softer. He is a big softie now but when I was a kid, he was strict.

Kelly: He sends you a message before and after games. What does he say?

Alessia: He sends me a message before every game and it's a long text that has the date of the game, who we are playing and a few key things he thinks I have been working on or that I have been doing well. It's a little bit of a motivational message, then he will send me a quote or something. It's the police officer in him - he has to be organised.

Kelly: And he has a phrase when you say goodbye to him?

Alessia: He always says "BTB", which means "be the best" you can be in whatever you can do.

Kelly: If you could only achieve one more thing in your career or life, what would it be?

Alessia: That is such a hard question. Winning the World Cup is the first that comes to mind.

Kelly: You are still so young - do you think beyond football?

Alessia: I do. It's hard in the moment because it is so intense. When you are in football, all you want to do is win every trophy you can. But one day after football, I'd like to have another career. We can't play forever. I'd love to have children and live on a beach somewhere. I'd love to have my own vineyard and live in Italy with my family and have loads of kids and switch off and just be away from football and watch it for fun and enjoy a whole other life. But I don't think that will ever happen. I look forward to after football and achieving everything I want to achieve in terms of trophies. I do look forward to having another career. I suppose it's a new phase of life after you play football.