Valentina Gallazzi

Her father named her Valentina after motorcycle racing legend Valentino Rossi — and passed his passion for motorsport on to her.

Her football journey began in a small neighbourhood square, where the local boys invited her to join their oratory team at the age of eight.

When her childhood club named her Abbadia Lariana’s Athlete of the Year, it presented her with a number ten shirt in the colours she had once worn on the local oratory pitch.

Luka Modrić has always been her main football role model because she admires his ability to see possibilities that many other players miss.

Her first Italy U23 goal came around a year after a serious ACL injury; she described it as a rebirth and dedicated it to her family, who had supported her from Lecco while she recovered in Rome.

To manage pre-match anxiety, she mentally plays through the game in advance, observes it from an outside perspective and reminds herself of her strengths.