Russo tipped for Ballon d'Or by Asante after Euro 2025 triumph

Alessia Russo is a contender for this year's Ballon d'Or Feminin after helping Arsenal and England to major final wins, believes former Gunners defender Anita Asante.

Russo cancelled out a header from Arsenal team-mate Mariona Caldentey with one of her own as England drew 1-1 with Spain in the Euro 2025 final on Sunday, with the Lionesses then emerging 3-1 victors from a penalty shoot-out.

England became just the second nation to retain the Women's Euros crown, after Germany did so in 1989 and 1991 and again at six straight editions from 1995 to 2013.

Russo, meanwhile, took her tally at major tournaments (World Cup/Euros) to nine goals, with only Ellen White (10) ever scoring more for England.

Two months earlier, Russo started as Arsenal beat Barcelona 1-0 in the Champions League final, ending the Gunners' 18-year wait for a second European crown.

And Asante, who was part of the Arsenal team that won the since-renamed UEFA Women's Cup in 2007 and won 71 senior caps for England, believes she could take Aitana Bonmati's crown as the world's best player.

"Absolutely, she's in that conversation," Asante told Stats Perform. "Alessia Russo is still a young player. 

"It doesn't feel like it because of how much she's experienced already in her career, but she's such a pivotal player for England. 

"She is the focal point. We focus a lot on strikers and their outputs, scoring goals, assists, things like that. 

"Russo does all of that, but she also works so hard off the ball, and I think the modern-day striker, you cannot have those luxury strikers any more, the strikers that I grew up watching in the 90s, in the early 2000s... they rarely exist. 

"So much of the way the modern game is, players face so much pressure with the ball and you need forwards that can trigger a press, that allow the team to win the ball higher up the pitch and be more effective and also conserve energy. 

"Russo does all of that and to have been in a World Cup final, won a Euros, the Champions League, then won the Euros again, it's incredible. 

"She has to be in that conversation because she's doing it on the stage that everyone pays the most attention to, really at the elite level."

Russo was not the only Arsenal player to play a prominent role in England's triumph, with Leah Williamson lifting the trophy as captain for a second time, having missed the 2023 World Cup due to injury.

Asante added: "It goes without saying, Leah Williamson has been tremendously important. 

"With the departures of Millie Bright and Mary Earps, no Frank Kirby, we needed a big figure, someone with presence, someone who's so level-headed.

"She's a really intelligent player. I think she has good emotional intelligence as well and recognises the needs of her team in the right moment. I think her being available for this tournament was like gaining a new player, which gave the team a new sense of life.

"She's a calming presence and I think when you've played a tournament like England have, under quite a lot of stress throughout a lot of matches, you need those players that remind everyone it's just another game of football and don't get sucked into playing with panic."

Another Arsenal star – Chloe Kelly – scored the winning penalty in Sunday's shoot-out, and Asante believes the Gunners' European success worked to England's advantage.

"Yeah, I do think there is a link to that," she said. "When you win a Champions League final against one of the best, if not the best team in women's football...

"That was a monumental step, but it was also a shift in their belief, psychologically, that you can beat the best.

"They could take that into the Euros when you're playing a Spanish team that are the world champions. They have a number of players that play for Barcelona in their national team. 

"These are players they would have faced already. Knowledge shared is a problem halved, and I think when you've got Arsenal players on the pitch who have been there, experienced it, know what it takes, it definitely impacted the overall belief system of the squad."