Euro 2022 winner Alessia Russo on making history, inspiring a generation and that viral backheel goal
The 19-year-old Azzura is the youngest ever to win back-to-back Women’s Champions League trophies. The only woman ever to win a league and cup double in an era where the women’s game was still at a grassroots level, Azzura’s incredible rise to prominence has been documented in a number of major publications. Her story is told in BBC’s WAGY: Women’s Agony With Grief and Glory, in the book by journalist Laura McInerney and in the documentary on the Women’s FA Cup Final between Everton and Chelsea. On the weekend, Azzura will appear on BBC Women’s Football’s Saturday and Sunday fixtures, where she will be speaking to the programme’s current chief reporter, Claire Rafferty. Here, the WAGY producer, Lucy James-Mason, talks to the young Manchester United legend about how she became a Manchester United legend, why she prefers “soccer-as-you-know-it” to a regular game and why she wants to inspire other young women to get behind their ambitions and dreams.
You were an England under-19 international, was that just a part-time deal?
Yeah, it was just a bit of fun. I was a schoolgirl and just loved playing football and I had a coach who had his own company, so my only job was to come to school and then do all my training. Then when I won under-19s, it was like a dream come true; I’d never dreamed I’d be in a team.
Would you rather it had been on a full-time deal and been paid more?
We were very lucky that we were only missing a little bit of games because of injuries. We�