It says a lot about Alessia Russo’s rise that the main selection dilemma before England’s Euro 2022 semi-final with Sweden appears to be whether she should replace all-time top scorer Ellen White in the starting line-up.
White is likely to start Tuesday’s game against the tournament’s top-ranked team at Bramall Lane but Russo’s performances as a super sub this month have become increasingly hard to ignore.
She is England’s second-highest scorer at the Euros with three goals, despite not starting a game.
She has come off the bench in all four of England’s matches and had a major impact, most notably when she provided the assist for Manchester United team-mate Ella Toone’s equaliser in the quarter-final against Spain.
Having made her debut in 2020, the 23-year-old has scored seven goals in 11 England appearances in total – a particularly remarkable record given she has only started for the national team twice.
Her impact in her first major tournament has been dramatic and, whether or not she starts against Sweden, she is sure to have a key role to play.
Yet while she is only just emerging as a star at this level, those who have known her for years have not been surprised by her rise.
‘She won games for us single-handed’
Perhaps Russo was always destined for a football career, given the sports-mad family she grew up in.
She spent childhood family football games being thrust in goal by her two older brothers – one of whom now plays in non-league while the other pursued an athletics scholarship. Her father Mario is Met Police FC’s all-time record goalscorer.
Her former PE teacher Luke Anderson told BBC Radio 5 Live she was “played in every team that we had”.
“When Alessia joined us in year seven she was so good that we played her in the boys’ team and the girls’ team,” he said.
He recalls entering a side in an under-15s competition in which Russo “played a blinder” but the team were later disqualified for fielding her – because she was only in year seven at the time and too young to be in the team.
“I can laugh at it now,” Anderson said. “She would win games for us single-handed. She had such an influence in every game we played.”
An England breakthrough – via the United States
Away from school, Russo began her career at Charlton Athletic’s centre of excellence before joining Chelsea’s development squad.
She made just one senior appearance for the Blues – a first-round Continental Cup match in 2016 – before moving on to Brighton, where she scored three goals in seven games.
She then headed to the United States to join college soccer side North Carolina Tar Heels, scoring 28 goals in 57 appearances during three years there.
Russo represented England at every stage from under-15s level upwards but it was in 2020 that she really began to establish herself in England for club and country.
She joined Manchester United and won her first senior international cap in the final game of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. She was initially invited to join up just to be involved in training but came on as a late replacement after Lucy Bronze was injured.
Her scoring record since then has cemented her place in the Lionesses squad, where she has become increasingly influential along with United team-mate Toone, another regular substitute.
The partnership between Russo and Toone is obvious. They have both set each other up for goals in the Euros, evidence of the link they have developed through playing together at every level for England.
At United, Russo has scored 12 times in 26 appearances as the club have established themselves as a force in the Women’s Super League.
Russo’s challenge now is to dislodge White from the England starting line-up, a tough task given the 33-year-old is one goal away from matching Wayne Rooney’s all-time England record of 53.
If, as expected, manager Sarina Wiegman opts for the experience of White to start Tuesday’s semi-final, one thing is for sure: she will know exactly where to turn if England need to find a goal.
