'We are one family' - Raina Giusti

by Ayrton Galea - 19th January 2015

Women's Team top-scorer Raina Giusti believes that the atmosphere surrounding the team is the key factor for Birkirkara's impressive league campaign so far. We talked with the seventeen-year old player just before they take on Kirkop United FC.

Raina is a Floriana FC product, and she joined our Club five years ago. With our Club, she established herself as one of the most promising forwards on the island and she forms part of the Under-19's National Team. During this season, she made ten appearances and scored eighteen goals. She is the Club's top scorer and the third best top scorer in the league.

The Stripes ended their first-round commitments with a 2-0 victory over Pembroke with Raina scoring both goals. Giusti told us, “I think it was a match that reflected our fighting spirit. It was a difficult and a tense game. Both teams played their hearts out. We should have taken our chances better but we found very organised opponents. I was very happy to score these two goals. It was another step in reaching my personal target of ending the league in the first three positions of the league's best scorers.”

When asked about her season so far, Raina said, “I am very happy with my performances. Although there were some ups and down in every match, there was always something that left me satisfied. The season isn't over yet and I'm hoping and working for the best to come.”

The Stripes will be facing Kirkop United today, in the first match of the Championship Pool. Raina said, “We're expecting a very intense match. You can't take any opponent for-granted. The first-round match proved to be a tough, and from now on, every match is like a final for us”.

Birkirkara are enjoying an impressive ten-win streak and we asked her about this. “The secret so far has been that through thick and thin we are one family, and this year more than the previous years. My team-mates are like a second family. We wait eagerly for every training session, or the frequent events that we organise. Being as a family outside the pitch, makes us united on the pitch. We pull the same rope and the unity that exists between us is our twelfth player in the pitch.

We talked with Raina about the team's targets and her personal targets. She told us, “The team's target is definitely winning the league while my personal targets for this season is to be helpful for my team as much as possible while trying to continue to improve my level. My other target for this season is to end in the first three positions of the league's best scorer.”

Raina concluded with, “I can't predict my future but I will train with full commitment maybe one day I will play abroad, but one big wish in the future is to be awarded the Player of the Year.”

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