How Alessia Russo fired Arsenal to the Women's Champions League final - and why the Lionesses star will be more important than ever in the Gunners' bid to beat Barcelona

Russo's two biggest moments of this campaign have come in the Champions League, too. When Real Madrid travelled to the Emirates to protect their lead, it was the England striker who both started Arsenal's comeback and completed the turnaround, bagging the first and third goals in a 3-0 win. It was the first time in seven years that a team had overturned a two-goal first leg deficit in a women's knockout tie.

In the semi-finals, there was concern that Russo wouldn't be able to play her part. Injury on international duty meant she was a real doubt for the Lyon tie, with there genuine worry early on that she wouldn't be able to feature. But her hard work, and that of the Gunners' medical staff, would pay dividends.

She couldn't be at her most effective in the home leg, but the minutes she got under her belt in that loss clearly did a lot for her sharpness a week later, as she came up with another big goal and another fantastic performance to help Arsenal to a truly stunning 4-1 win.

"Scoring four goals against Lyon in the second leg is not easy at all," Bonmati said this week. "I congratulate them for that because I think it was a big surprise, but a well deserved one."

Those have been two of the highest points of an excellent all-round season for Russo. There has never been much doubt about her ability as a footballer, with her work rate, hold-up play and intelligent pressing all superb, and very important to how the Gunners play. But she has not always shown that she has the goal-scoring instincts to be a very prolific striker. Indeed, in her three seasons before this one as a regular starter, for Manchester United and then Arsenal, she'd never hit the 20-goal mark in all competitions.

This term, Russo has done that for the first time, netting a Golden Boot-winning 12 in the WSL and eight in the Champions League. The latter is a total only bettered by Barcelona's Claudia Pina, who has 10. How has she done it?

If you look at her underlying numbers, this sort of season has been coming. Last year, the averages of all Russo's key metrics as a No.9 were up in the second half of Arsenal's campaign compared to the first - those being touches in the opposition's box, total shots, shots on target, expected goals (xG) and goals. She was outperforming her xG from January onwards as well, having underperformed with regards to it in the first half the season.

It's a trend that has continued in 2024-25. Per 90 minutes, she had more touches in the opposition's box and more shots on target in the WSL this season than in any of her previous three, while out-performing her xG by more than two goals.

But the real reasons behind those numbers are the hard work Russo has done behind the scenes. The 26-year-old is the ultimate professional, someone who commits to extra sessions to fine tune her game and throws herself into the analysis of it all. She's done a lot of work with Kelly Smith, the legendary Arsenal forward who is now part of the first-team staff, to improve her goal-scoring, and she's also been focusing on that a lot with England, another team reaping the rewards of her progress.

On top of it all is a strong mentality that all strikers need, because even the very best go through some tough times in front of goal. "She's so consistent and stable as a person that she doesn't get swayed by if she scores or not," Slegers explained recently. Others around Russo will describe her as resilient.

"As strikers you always have moments and spells," the Gunners' star told DAZN earlier this season. "It’s about riding the wave and when things aren’t good, it’s stripping it back, focusing on training and that’s what I have done. I’m my own biggest critic and I know at times I have definitely not scored as much as I want to."

It has all helped Russo to start to hit numbers that will please her. She's still not in the elite echelons when it comes to the best goal-scorers around, but she is progressing at a promising rate - and, crucially, while not taking away from the other strengths in her game. She's still playing a key role in Arsenal's build-up, she's pressing brilliantly and she is holding the ball up to bring others into play.

"She does so many other things for the team as well that are so important," Slegers said after the Real Madrid win. "You saw our press for example, today. She put so much work into it."

It's for all these reasons that Russo will be key for Arsenal if they are to cause a serious shock on Saturday and beat Barcelona, winners of the last two Champions League titles. It's going to be a different challenge for the Gunners and their star striker. After all, the Catalans will dominate possession - something Slegers' side usually want to do - so it'll be about instead focusing on moments in transition when it comes to trying to hurt them in attack.

In that sense, Russo will almost be more important than usual. When a team is facing extended periods without the ball and needs some respite, it's often on the centre-forward to hold up a long pass, allowing the defence to get out. It's also likely to be from those situations that Arsenal build a lot of attacks, asking the England striker to wait for support and link up with others when it arrives, to kickstart a counter.

Fortunately, that is one of Russo's absolute strengths - and if she can get in the right position in the box to be on the end of some of those moves, as she has done so often all season long, she could well be the difference in not just another big European game, but the biggest one yet.