Francesca Durante's passion for football came about just over twenty years ago at the Ferraris. Her father, a Genovese and Doriano doctor, took his two children to watch the match between Luigi Cagni's Sampdoria and former Beppe Signori's Bologna. Her brother fell asleep almost immediately, while Francesca, who was only 4 years old at the time, was fascinated by the fans, the stadium, and the sport. "That's how I started and never stopped."

The Inter and National Women's team goalkeeper, in an interview with Secolo XIX, talks about the excitement of taking in the atmosphere of Marassi again, where on Monday (18.30 CEST, live on Rai 2) Italy will take on Brazil in a friendly. The 25-year-old, after realising her dream of becoming a top-level football player, is looking forward to being able to play in her city, in front of the family that in 2007 saw her on the pitch alongside coach Donadoni's Azzurri. It was 13 October, Italy vs. Georgia, a qualifying match for the 2008 European Championship, staged in Genoa. Boys from Genoa soccer schools accompanied the team to the pitch, and Francesca was the only girl in the group. "It was Ambrosini's turn for me, I was 10 years old and it was a very exciting evening," she recalls, amused - "now I'm going back to the Ferraris but as a professional."

Since then, football has become part of her life. In 2012, very young, she made her debut in Serie A; in 2014 she won the third place at the World Cup played in Costa Rica with the Under 17 team ("my best memory since I've been playing football"); and, the following year, she made her debut with the senior national team. She's a goalkeeper, a dream for a long time that eventually became reality. A turning point, Francesca explains was "Professionalism means having more rights and more duties. It means having greater protections and having a pension when you stop playing: so many girls have been football players and stopped at 30-35 years old without having been entitled to anything, as if they had done nothing until then."

It will be a milestone that in three days Francesca will be able to celebrate, in the city she feels is hers, even though she has never lived there. She feels her roots are in the Ligurian capital, although a Tuscan by adoption. With dad from Sampierdarena and mum from Pegli, it had to be. Soccer and the Ferraris were in her destiny, with the future yet to be written. She will write the next chapter by facing the Brazilians as a star player, ready to collect the plaudits of her fans: "Being part of the national team is a great honour. We will face a strong team, the right way to start preparing for the World Cup."