Girelli: I am excited to continue my Juve journey

Yahoo

14-02-2025

Cristiana Girelli has renewed her contract with Juventus until 30 June 2026 and wanted to share with us all her emotions on such an important day.
'A few weeks ago, on 24 January, I had the privilege of celebrating my 200th appearance for Juventus by scoring and celebrating the success against Inter with my teammates. It was undoubtedly a perfect evening. Today (Friday 14 February), however, the emotions are equally strong because I have signed another contract extension to continue my journey in these colours. Considering the day on which it was signed, Valentine's Day, I can say that it is the renewal of a long love story between myself and Juventus.
'I believe that, every now and then, it is right to stop and look back to reflect on the wonderful things that have happened over these years. I am extremely satisfied with what has been accomplished over my seasons at Juve, both collectively and individually. In general, however, I am not someone who is used to looking back because I like to think that the most beautiful emotions are the ones yet to be experienced. My wish is that we can all experience moments just as happy as the previous ones. What I can say with certainty, however, is that I will renew my love for this club and for this shirt every day, as I have always done up to this point.
'I honestly don't remember if my heading ability was one of my strong points as a child. I think I have developed this ability over the years because, in fact, I only started playing further forward when I arrived at Juventus. Previously I was a midfielder, basically a winger, but since my arrival at Juventus the Director (Stefano Braghin) saw me in a more advanced area of the pitch and from that moment I became a striker. Clearly, by playing closer to the goal, the number of goals I scored increased and, consequently, so did the number of headers. Over the years it has become my trademark. I can't say, however, if I feel I have improved on this fundamental skill. Probably yes, because as the years have gone by, women's football has grown, in all aspects, and with it the demands on each of us, at a physical level, have also grown. Clearly, if I have been able to score so much with my head, the credit must also go to my teammates, current and past, who have put me in the perfect positions to perform at my best, and one above all was Valentina Cernoia.
'At Juventus, even though I arrived at the age of 28, I can say that I have developed as an athlete. I often remind the younger girls, especially those currently in the youth teams, but who occasionally come up to the first team to train with us, to use the attention of our club in the all-round development of their athletes to their advantage. Coming back to me, physically I feel very good at the moment and I'm happy that this year the intensity of training has lifted considerably with the arrival of Coach [Massimiliano] Canzi. As far as I'm concerned, the more the years go by, the more you have to keep your foot on the accelerator to maintain a good state of fitness. Every day I take advantage of this to work on my physique, I take care of all the details to present myself in the best possible condition on match day. I don't want to stop here, I'm not satisfied.'