The rise of Alessia Russo: How Arsenal and England's No.9 became world-class

Russo's development into a more consistently prolific goal-scorer hasn't happened overnight, nor has it happened by chance. An exemplary professional, the England star has done a lot of extra work with the Lionesses staff and the Arsenal staff, including legendary forward Kelly Smith, to improve as a goal-scorer over the years.

For Jonas Eidevall, the former Gunners boss who brought her to north London, it was never a question of finishing. "I said early on that her finishing ability is the best that I have ever worked with," he explained before his departure from the club. "What is important with Alessia is developing and playing and the goal-scoring positions she increasingly finds herself in. I think as a forward, that should be your aim all the time, to be in the right positions, because if you are, the goals come as a consequence."

With Eidevall, his successor Renee Slegers and England boss Sarina Wiegman, and their staff, Russo worked on getting into what Eidevall described as "the goal zone" more often.

Again, it didn't bear fruit overnight. Before the goals increased, Russo's underlying numbers went up. She took more touches in the opposition's box than ever before, she unleashed more shots and hit the target more regularly, to increase her expected goals statistics, all before eventually finding the back of the net more frequently.

In the 2024-25 season, Russo hit that 20-goal mark for the first time to help Arsenal win the Champions League and England triumph at the Euros. Notably, her seven goals in the Champions League were only bettered by Barcelona's Claudia Pina. In the following campaign, she fell just one short of her first 30-goal season, netting nine in the Champions League this time, a total only topped by Barca's Pajor.

"I think what you see now is that when she gets to the right spaces with the right timing, she has so much conviction in what she's doing," Slegers remarked earlier this year. "I think that's what's taken her to another level."

The work Russo has done to become this more prolific striker always felt like it needed the right balance. After all, she is a player who likes to drop deep or drift wide to get involved in the build-up play and link attacks, and the manner in which she does this is of high quality and can be beneficial. But when it takes her out of the box and leaves her team without a player in the right areas to score goals, it can be a problem.

Fortunately, all parties appear to have struck the right balance to help Russo become the 20-goal striker that Eidevall, somewhat boldly at the time, predicted she would be, while ensuring she remains one of the best all-round centre-forwards in the sport.

Her ability to rack up assists alongside the goals remains, while Slegers' use of Russo in a No.10 role at times allows her to tap into that creativity even further while relieving her of the responsibility to also be in position in the box at all times.

What has really cemented Russo's status as a world-class player, though, is how often those goals come in big moments.

Those notable tallies in the Champions League include so many strikes in games of the highest pressure, including two in the 3-0 comeback win over Real Madrid and another - as well as an assist - in the 4-1 comeback win over Lyon during Arsenal's run to the Champions League title last year. Russo's biggest goal in an England shirt came last summer, too, when her header levelled the scores in the Euros final, which the Lionesses went on to win on penalties.

Most impressive about the latter was that it came at the end of a tournament in which a lot of questions were raised about Russo and her goal-scoring. Her only strike before that came in the 6-1 thrashing of Wales in the group stages, with impact sub Michelle Agyemang regularly the goal-scoring hero in the knockout stages instead.

But Russo has the level-headedness to deal with those dry spells. "She's so consistent and stable as a person that she doesn't get swayed by if she scores or not," Slegers explained previously. It's why she can hit back with goals of such magnitude, even if it all hasn't fallen her way in games past.

It's a mentality that only world-class players have and Russo, after all the questions over the years, is definitely one right now.