'She is everything' – Slegers lauds Arsenal hat-trick hero Russo

Renee Slegers lavished praise on Alessia Russo, labelling her "world-class" after scoring a hat-trick in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday. 

Arsenal made it seven points from their first three games to begin their European campaign, but it was Russo who shone at Mangata Developments Stadium Meadow Park. 

Russo opened the scoring six minutes before half-time before doubling her and Arsenal's tally in the 66th minute. 

Catarina Amado's foul on Caitlin Foord inside the area handed Russo the chance to complete her hat-trick, and she dispatched her spot-kick coolly beyond Lena Pauels. 

In scoring a hat-trick, Russo became the first player to do so for Arsenal in the Champions League since Frida Maanum against FC Zurich four years ago, in December 2022.

Over the last three seasons, only Barcelona's Ewa Pajor (21) has scored more goals in the competition than Russo (20), who edged closer to becoming the highest-scoring English player in the history of the Women's European Cup/Champions League, with Fran Kirby (21) currently holding that record. 

"She is everything. It's hard to know where to start," Slegers said of Russo. 

"She is such a humble, nice human being, really good, cares for everything and everyone, does everything to the fullest. She trains, does meetings, prepares, recovers.

"Everything is 100% and she brings so much quality. There is so much to say about Alessia, and it's a privilege for me to work with her.

"To have a player that's world-class in the way she plays, the way she attacks, the way she defends, does everything for the team and being this person, it's amazing.

"The whole team is amazing, we have so many good personalities in the group. We care for each other, and Alessia leads the way, and she was captaining the team."

Russo's fine performance came after she finished ninth in the Ballon d'Or on Monday, with London City Lionesses' Alexia Putellas claiming a record-equalling third crown. 

But, more importantly for Arsenal, they put together back-to-back wins across all competitions this season following a difficult start to their Women's Super League campaign. 

The Gunners beat rivals Tottenham in last week's North London derby, with Aston Villa their next league opponents at the Emirates Stadium this Sunday. 

And Russo hopes their midweek win can be used as momentum, telling Disney+: "We said that the north London derby wouldn't have meant anything if we didn't go and back it up, so it was really important, back at Boreham Wood, to use that as momentum and now, hopefully, we can build going forward.

"You could see how many shots on target we had and that's something we've been really building, really focusing on.

"People feeling confident to step up and shoot from outside the box and their keeper made some great saves and maybe on another day it would have been even more. It was a really good performance."