Roma have won the Europa Conference League, and Chris Smalling was their stand-out player in the final. He’s come a long way. Again.
As the Feyenoord players collapsed to the pitch at the end of the Europa Conference League final in Tirana, their winning counterparts from Roma had something to celebrate. The trophy they had won was the club’s first in 14 years, and their first European trophy in more than 60 years (unless you count the 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup, and it’s doubtful that many do). In doing so, they became the first Italian club to lift a European trophy since Inter claimed the Champions League in 2010. It was also an evening of vindication for Jose Mourinho, who in winning this competition’s first iteration set a record of becoming not only the first manager to win all three of the current UEFA competitions, but also the first manager to reach the final of a major European trophy with four different clubs.
But on the pitch, the Player of the Match award went to a man who has – in the manner of Englishmen who move abroad – become something of a half-forgotten memory back in his home country. Chris Smalling put in an extremely accomplished performance and thoroughly deserved his winner’s medal, his award and his clean sheet. And that performance may have awakened memories among some Manchester United supporters of a defender who was replaced by Harry Maguire, an extremely expensive purchase who has turned out to be something of a square peg in a round hole at Old Trafford. Looking back on the end of their respective seasons, the benefit of hindsight doesn’t make it difficult to see who got the better end of those transactions.
Smalling was never quite cut from the same cloth as most other Premier League players. Having been ignored by professional clubs, he started his career in non-league football with Maidstone United, and his first professional contract came while he was working as a waiter, having got himself three A-levels and…
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