GLASGOW City and Scotland midfielder Hayley Lauder admits she and her team-mates have been amazed by the level of consistency shown by 16-year-old schoolgirl Carly Girasoli since she broke into the first team in May.
The central defender, who is a fifth year pupil at Lourdes Secondary, scored on her first start against Rangers, having made her debut as a substitute against Aberdeen last year when she was only 15. She had to get special dispensation from her school to make the trip to Cyprus for the first leg of the Champions League last-32 tie against Somatio Barcelona a fortnight ago.
Girasoli will also have tomorrow (Thursday) to prepare for the evening's televised home leg at Petershill Park. Should the Scottish champions, who won the away game 2-0, close the tie out, there will be the round of 16 – potentially against one of the top clubs in Europe – to look forward to in October.
“Carly has been brilliant,” Lauder said. “I don't think anybody expected this level from her so consistently. I definitely didn't.
“She had two or three top games when she came in and you're thinking – right, maybe next week she's going to have a shocker. But it's not happened and for a 16-year-old to play so well in the heart of defence in the Champions League is amazing to be honest.”
The player herself appears to be taking it all in her stride. Encouraged by her father and brother, she played football with boys from an early age at Harmony Row – the club where Sir Alex Ferguson kicked off his career.
She was then at Celtic's girls academy for eight years before joining Glasgow City last year. “I moved because City train four nights a week and I'm trying to better myself,” the teenager pointed out. “I want to be a professional player one day – that's my aim.”
Girasoli is one of three school pupils – Karsey McGlinchey and Jenna Clark being the others – in City's Champions League squad. All three had to take homework to Cyprus for the away leg, which was played in 33 degree heat at Limassol's Tsirion Stadium.
“I did some of it on the plane and some at the hotel,” Girasoli reported. “Back at the school they make sure I'm not slacking off!”
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