Alessia Russo: England must create ‘magic’ to revive Euros hopes | OneFootball

England striker Alessia Russo says that the Lionesses must be better ahead of a must-win Women’s Euro 2025 encounter with the Netherlands.

England were defeated 2-1 by France in their Euro 2025 opener and now need to win both their remaining Group D matches.

Russo is adamant the Lionesses are ready to go again after a difficult start to their tournament.

“It’s tournament football, you go through lots of highs and lows to get where you want to be in tournaments,” Russo said. “So ultimately, we were disappointed after that game, more so with ourselves.

“Obviously, we came up against a great French side, but we know that we can be better, and we have very high standards as a team. We’ve had a good few days to switch off reflect, and now we’re ready to go.

“We have so many great players, and we want everyone to be as free as possible on that pitch tomorrow night and going forward. We have players that can create something out of nothing, so making sure that everyone’s in a good head space going into that game tomorrow is important, and that’s what we’ve been doing as a team.

“Ultimately, you have a game plan, but we’ve got individuals who can create a bit of magic as well,” Russo added.

England must now defeat the Netherlands in order to revive their Women’s Euro 2025 hopes. Russo reflected on how this must-win scenario is completely different to the major tournament experiences she has had at both Euro 2022, and the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

“Every tournament makes me learn something different and brings out different parts of my game and my mentality,” the striker said. “You have to adapt, and you learn a lot from these kinds of experiences.

“We’ve also got players like Lucy [Bronze] and Alex [Greenwood] who have been to lots of major tournaments and have that experience, so we can lean on them in times as well.

“t’s a different scenario, but one that we as a team are ready for and looking forward to. I think we’ve played in high pressure moments before, and ultimately, we know this is one of them too.”

Speaking on playing against her Arsenal teammate, Daphne van Domselaar, Russo gave little away.

“She is a world class keeper and is someone that is a very talented player,” Russo praised of her Arsenal teammate. “But us as a team, we’re very focused on us and how we can create and the positions that we want to find ourselves in tomorrow night.

“So, we’re aware that they have lots of talented players, and that’s definitely one of them. But we’ve more been looking at ourselves and how we can best prepare for tomorrow’s game.”