Alessia Russo’s Strong Performance Continues Under Renee Slegers

Alessia Russo has commenced every match under Renee Slegers, accumulating eleven starts across eleven games and scoring ten goals. Her strong performance, attributed to diligent effort under Arsenal’s interim boss Renee Slegers, was evident in the Gunners’ last fixture before the winter break. The 25-year-old player contributed Arsenal’s second goal during Wednesday’s 3-2 comeback victory over Bayern Munich, securing the top position in their Women’s Champions League group. This goal brought Russo’s seasonal total to 11, with 10 of those goals scored during Slegers’ tenure, including six in her most recent four appearances. Following the match, Russo stated to DAZN, “I’m my own biggest critic and I know at times I have definitely not scored as much as I want to.” She added, “As strikers you always have moments and spells. 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.” England international Russo has been a starter in every game since Slegers took over, following Jonas Eidevall’s resignation as head coach in October. Earlier in the campaign, under Eidevall, Russo started seven out of nine matches and registered only one goal. Russo commented, “I’m just enjoying my football.” She continued, “We’re playing really nice football and we are picking up really important results. We are really enjoying ourselves and finding so many different connections on the pitch and often grinding out results in different kinds of ways.” She further explained, “We’ve been working on lots of different things, but in the final third how we can find different connections, how we can create different types of attacks. It starts in training and we have been lucky enough to find it in matches too.” Russo concluded, “It’s been great and us as players want more, we want to take accountability and that’s what we’re doing.” Both Arsenal and Russo are entering the winter break with high confidence, anticipating the Champions League quarter-final draw scheduled for 7 February. “We’re all feeling really positive as a group,” Russo stated. She added, “We have just been working really hard. I know it sounds cliche but we really have. With the players and staff we have got, I would always back us.”