Russo's rise: a tale of talent, toil and seizing the moment

The England striker is finally claiming the spotlight, but her route to stardom began long before she became a Lioness

- Jonathan Liew

Above all, she remembers the beach. She would wake every morning to a view of the sea, spend her days splashing in the surf, playing football on the sand with her brothers. They would talk into the night, eating and drinking, the waves crashing below them. These are her earliest and most treasured memories: Nettuno, the coastal town an hour south of Rome, where her nonna still lives and which Alessia Russo still describes as her favourite place in the world.

The story goes - and so fondly is it recounted in the Russo family that it has long since passed into lore - that one day Alfonso was up from Sicily, visiting Rome with a friend, when he saw a girl stepping onto a train at the railway station. No, not just a girl. The girl. Two fairly major issues: he didn't know her, and it wasn't his train.

But Alfonso was a true romantic, the train was about to leave the station, and above all he knew that some moments in life just need to be seized.

Turns out she was an English girl named Patricia, visiting Italy on a school trip. Problem number three: he didn't speak English. But a fellow passenger was able to translate for them, the pair got talking, and after a fashion they fell in love. After another fashion, they ended up getting married. Seven decades later, their granddaughter will play for England against Italy for a place in a European Championship final.