Olympic failure leaves Lionesses hero Alessia Russo ‘sad’ but Arsenal star can take heart from ‘biggest honour’ off the field

The England and Arsenal forward has enjoyed a memorable run with club and country over recent years, becoming a European Championship winner and World Cup finalist. She was, however, unable to help the Lionesses into the Nations League finals, meaning that Great Britain have missed out on tickets to Paris this summer.

Russo has told FIFA’s official website of enduring a rare setback in her otherwise impressive career: “The Olympics was something that we really wanted to go to as a team. Qualifying was really difficult and we fell short. It was really tough. We've had two big summers of tournaments and it's going to be sad to not have another one, especially when you get used being in the flow of tournament football. That’s where every player wants to be playing. But we’ll use this time get a bit of a rest, recharge, and get ready to go again.”

Despite missing out on a place at the Paris Games with Team GB, Russo has been recognised by her peers as one of the best players on the planet. She added on making the FIFPRO 11 for 2023: “One of the biggest honours you can get is to gain the respect of those other players that you play with and against. It’s incredible. It definitely means the most coming from them because they're who you're on the journey with and whose opinion matters most.”

Russo will be eager to maintain those standards through the current calendar year, with there major honours to be chased down with Arsenal as the north London outfit compete for the WSL title alongside bids for League and FA Cup glory.