Smalling eager to contribute after completing return

The defender was back in the heart of the defence as the Giallorossi continued their recent good form at the Stadio Olimpico, his first start in the league for more than a month.

The result also moved the side up into the top four in the Serie A standings.

“I think we knew before this game, we saw the results last night and we knew we had to come away with three points in order to close the gap at the top and be fighting with the other sides at the top of the table,” Smalling said.

“Personally I’m delighted to be back. It’s great for me to be back and able to help the team, and we want to go on a good run of games now and help the side that has been doing so well.”

He added: “Physically I’ve been working hard, and then unfortunately I had a little setback and then the same setback again. But I’m feeling very good, I have been able to do a lot of work physically to get better.

“Now to play my first 90 minutes, I’m keen to make up for the lost time over the last few weeks and help contribute to the team as much as I can. Because we’ve seen over this season already that everyone is needed and everyone has to step up, and I want to help the team as much as I can.”

Andrea Belotti’s strike prevented Smalling celebrating the night with a clean sheet too, something he acknowledged left him a bit frustrated.

“Even though their position in the table is low, I think they’ve shown this season they can score goals and create problems,” Smalling noted.

“It did take us 10 or 15 minutes to get control of the game. Once we went 3-0 up we switched off a little bit, so there’s a little bit of frustration there. We should have had a well-deserved clean sheet to celebrate as well as a team.”