PLAYER PROFILE: LAURA GIULIANI

Laura Giuliani is one of the most experienced and recognised faces in this AC Milan team and across women's football in Italy. She spent several years at Juventus (winning various Scudetto titles) before joining the Rossonere. She's now in her third season at the Club, with her experience and presence on the pitch having become indispensable for the team. At the age of 18, Giuliani made her Serie A debut in 2011 with Como. When she was 19, she moved to Germany, where the game had already turned professional. She ended up wearing the shirts of Gütersloh, Herforder, FC Köln and Freiburg, but her adventure on German soil didn't just consist of football. 

Indeed, in order to support to herself, she worked on an assembly line, in a bakery and also as a bartender, waitress and sales assistant. It was a formative experience in all respects, allowing her to return to Serie A in 2017 and become a pillar of the Juventus project. While at the Bianconere, she won four consecutive league titles, the Coppa Italia once and the Supercoppa Italiana twice. As for the here and now, Giuliani has made several decisive interventions at this challenging early stage of the season, even if many have been the kind of saves a goalkeeper such as herself would be expected to produce. 

Coach Ganz and the whole squad know they can count on a truly valuable figure between the sticks, with the other Rossonere shot-stoppers - Babb, Copetti and Fedele - also ready to contribute if called upon. She's fully focused on her objectives, and her reflexes allow her to make saves and achieve them. We spoke to Laura in an exclusive interview, during which she sounded the charge ahead of the team's upcoming fixtures. After two consecutive third-place finishes, which weren't enough to qualify for the Women's Champions League in the league's previous format (it would, however, suffice in 2023/24), the Rossonere want to play in Europe again for the first time since 2021.

It hasn't fully gone to plan during the opening six matchdays, but the road is long and the group has the right mindset to compete for a place in the top three until the very end. "We're a strong side, and I'm convinced that the team has enormous potential and the results will arrive," said Laura in an interview with Milan TV. "We haven't made a good start, but there have been many positive aspects. There aren't many points separating the teams in the league, and we can't afford to make mistakes. We need to work on ourselves, our game, our mentality, our consistency and our performances, aiming to stay in games as much as possible. Let's remember where we started from and where we want to go. We must always take to the pitch with the desire to pick up three points, and the performances will follow."

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