Methven footballer Lana Clelland netted a fabulous FOUR in the Italian Serie A on Sunday.
And the determined former Perth Grammar School student believes there is still room for further improvement.
Clinical Clelland (28) stole the show as she inspired Sassuolo to a 6-1 league victory away at her former club Fiorentina.
She had levelled the scoring just before the break and later netted in the 53rd, 58th and then the 78th minute.
“This game was different to the one at the start of the season as I was going back to a place I’ve called home for many years,” Clelland told the Perthshire Advertiser.
“And it is somewhere I see myself living after football. I wanted to respect the fans and people I care about by not celebrating if I scored as I was on their home patch.
“Personally I have been on a good run of form since we came back from Christmas. I’m happy to get back on the scoresheet and see the hard work paying off.
“My current form still isn’t perfect but I do feel like I’m getting back to my old self after a slow comeback from injury for various reasons.
“I’m enjoying my football and working together with some great athletes and future prospects in this game.
“I’m enjoying trying to help them with some of my experience and watching this group go from strength to strength on a weekly basis.”
Scotland international Clelland, again one of the top goalscorers in Italy’s top-flight, has helped Sassuolo reach third position in the table after their opening 12 matches. They sit behind Juventus and Roma.
Clelland, who was also on the scoresheet in the Super Cup semi-final against Juventus earlier in the month, feels the team is well-placed to kick on further in the coming weeks and months.
“We’ve had ups and downs,” she explained earlier this week. “We started almost perfectly so we struggled a little to come to terms with a couple of bad results in a row.
“The break was important for us to regroup. The team came together before the break and we spoke about the things we had to improve on to get our performances back up to where we thought they should have been. Everyone came back from the holidays with a new energy.
“We want to take it a game at a time and see where it takes us but now we are up there challenging for that second Champions League spot. I think that would be special for a club like this.”
Clelland has been in Italy for a number of years now having first made the move to southern side Bari in 2014. It was then onto UPC Tavagnacco before joining Fiorentina and now Sassuolo.
A role model for young local footballers in Perthshire and beyond, she famously netted a screamer for Scotland against Japan at the World Cup in 2019.
