RomaPress official logo

Smalling: “It’s fantastic to come up against my old team.”


Roma defender Chris Smalling admitted that he’s eager to face his former side, Manchester United, tomorrow in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

It’s the first time that the Englishman will face the English giants as an opponent since he moved to the Italian capital in the summer of 2019. After initially joining on loan, Smalling completed a permanent deal to the Giallorossi after spending nearly a decade with the Red Devils.


“My old team, my old friends, it’s fantastic to come up against them,” he said to Roma TV.

“Even last year when I couldn’t play in the latter stages of the season, I was still hoping we would come up against them. But now we did this year, it’s a semi-final and we’ve got a difficult tie to overcome, but it would be great for us.”

He added, “(If we advance) we’d be so close to a trophy that I know would really change the landscape here and boost us to kick on.”