Kelly: If you could relive one match from your career and the outcome could change, what would it be?
Alessia: The 2023 World Cup final against Spain. It hurt a lot after winning the Euros, and knowing how that felt, to get so close to the World Cup but then so far away at the same time. It left a hole in us as a team, but the way we bounced back in the Euros maybe wouldn’t have happened if we won. I feel like everything happens for a reason.
Kelly: If you could relive one match and the outcome stayed the same, what would it be?
Alessia: I’m going to say the Euro 2022 final. That whole year and that tournament, and the impact that changed after that win was something we could never have imagined. The whole process of winning that tournament in England and then seeing the change, seeing the growth in the game, seeing everyone become a fan of women’s football after… that was something I will always live with. The impact we had in that tournament… every player in that squad will tell you it was more than we ever imagined and we were just in our little bubble. Me and Tooney talk about it a lot. Going from nobody really knowing us, to pretty much overnight you are this England footballer that suddenly has won the Euros and the paparazzi are after you and you are getting these amazing opportunities that you would never have imagined pre-tournament. For both of us, that whole tournament completely changed our lives.
Kelly: Ellen White was still playing and you went into Euro 2022 probably knowing you weren’t going to start, and then scored a goal that was up for the Puskas award, you win the Euros and you score goals that changed the course of England’s tournament…
Alessia: I just wanted to soak up every moment. I heard from a lot of the older girls that it is really intense and tough and you are away from home and there are good times and bad times throughout the tournament. I just wanted to enjoy every day. I knew I wasn’t going to be involved that much, especially in the starting XI. I just wanted to train really hard and be ready for anything.
Kelly: How many times have you watched the semi-final backheel against Sweden back?
Alessia: Not for a long time actually. It is funny because I am not really a skilful player, I more knock it and run. Chloe Kelly is a skilful player, I’m not. That moment was just so instinctive.
Kelly: You are incredibly humble but to say you aren’t a skilful player is a wild thing to say. You won the Euros twice.
Alessia: Some players are really technical with stepovers.
Kelly: All you care about is scoring?
Alessia: Yeah. How it goes in, it doesn’t matter. I always say in that tournament, Sarina gave us such freedom to express ourselves. I wouldn’t normally do that. You don’t do a backheel for fun, you do it if the moment is right. The confidence she instilled in us was really cool.
