Barcelona will face Arsenal in the Champions League final on Saturday, but Alessia Russo, the team’s current striker, thinks the “world class” Gunners can defeat the all-conquering Catalans.
At Sporting Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade stadium, Barcelona have won their fifth successive Champions League final, defeating English champions Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the final four games.
Arsenal are the only English club to have ever captured the title in 2007 with the UEFA Women’s Cup.
The London side’s return to the forefront of women’s soccer, with their 60,000-capacity home at Emirates Stadium, has been confirmed by famous victories over Real Madrid and Lyon.
Just a few months after the Red Devils rejected a damals women’s world record bid of £500,000 ($671,000), Russo left Manchester United and joined the Arsenal project in 2023 on a free transfer.
The 26-year-old had risen to fame and had won the hearts of England with her displays in England’s Euro 2022 trumph on home soil.
She also distinguished the Lionesses’ line as they reached the World Cup final a year later.
However, Russo struggled to live up to the hype surrounding her arrival in a difficult first season, where Arsenal failed to advance to the knockout stages of the Women’s Super League (WSL) and finished third overall.
However, Renee Slegers’ appointment as Arsenal’s new manager injonas Eidevall has sparked a change in both the club and Russo’s fortunes.
After netting 12 goals for Manchester City, she was named the football writers’ women’s player of the year earlier this month.
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However, Russo has really shined in the Champions League, scoring seven times as Mariona Caldentey, teammate, and second-place scorer in the final.
That included a quick-fire double against Madrid, helping Arsenal defeat a 2-0 first-leg deficit to defeat Lyon 3-0 in the semi-final second leg.
Every forward will claim that they have, at some point, not scored as many goals as they would have liked, and that being a striker is frequently judged on your goals, Russo told talkSPORT.
I’ll say it all the time, “I want to score more, I want to keep pushing.”
It’s my job to just get on the end of it, even though it’s never really seems like I’ll be satisfied, but it’s been nice and it’s been good to get some consistency. ”
Arsenal faces a team that has defeated them before in the previous five years, and that will now face an acid test.
Russo continued, “We know how good they are, and we know how consistent they are on the highest level.”
I believe that our ball-handling abilities are outstanding when we perform at our best. We have a lot of different play and attack styles, so I believe we can be world-class when we’re on it, and we certainly have shown that this year. ”
Source: Channels TV
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