Williamson hopes Russo can carry Arsenal swagger into Lionesses games | OneFootball

Leah Williamson has praised the form of Alessia Russo before England’s No 9 spearheads the Lionesses’ attack in their Women’s Nations League double-header against Belgium, starting in Bristol on Friday.

Arsenal’s Russo has scored 14 goals in her past 21 games for club and country, including two in last week’s Champions League second-leg comeback win over Real Madrid. Her clubmate, the England captain Williamson, praised Russo’s character, saying at St George’s Park on Thursday: “Everyone will always say how nice a person Alessia is and everyone wants to see her do well for that reason. But to be a No 9 you do have to have that sort of – not arrogance – but confidence about you.

“We all want to see Alessia playing the way she is and I hope she carries that on because she deserves it as a human and works hard for it. We know what a talent she is. When she is scoring goals, she is getting confidence and is giving back to the team.”

The England head coach, Sarina Wiegman, also recognised the form of Russo, Williamson and several other members of the squad after two English sides reached the Champions League semi-finals. Asked about Russo she said: “What we have seen since the last camp is there have been many competitive games. It has been really enjoyable to watch and you saw the level went up again. There have been big challenges with games involving many England players so that was really good to see. You could see a lot of players grew in confidence and are in a good place.”

Wiegman revealed that both the Brighton forward Fran Kirby and the Arsenal winger Chloe Kelly will miss the first Belgium match with “little niggles”, although she was hopeful they might be back for Tuesday’s game in Leuven.

“It’s really disappointing for them because they are in a very good place,” ­Wiegman said. “It’s disappointing for the team.”

Kirby was seen training individually on Thursday while Kelly was the only squad member not on the pitch. England remain without longer-term absentees including Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp and Georgia Stanway, so the biggest selection headache for Wiegman is in goal, and a choice between Hannah Hampton and Mary Earps.

England are joint top of their Nations League group with four points from two games, alongside Portugal, after the Lionesses’ 1-0 win over the world champions Spain at Wembley in February. They know two victories against a Belgium side ranked 20th in the world would probably put them in a commanding position in the group, but Wiegman will also be conscious that England lost their most recent meeting with ­Belgium, away in October 2023.

Looming larger on the horizon, though, is July’s European Championship, and Wiegman implied she will be striking a balance of priorities, adding: “It’s really important that we have a good picture of our team. Of course we go out to play Belgium and we want to win these games but we are also getting ready for the Euros, seeing who is available and in good form. We are always thinking in that direction.”

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