Chris Smalling is a vegan who doesn’t drink coffee with milk, but he offers The Athletic one on arrival at AS Roma’s training ground on the southern outskirts of the Italian capital. It’s very welcome after an eight-hour journey through a national strike, but the defender returns 10 minutes later looking slightly confused.



It’s not because he’s still smarting from a last-minute handball-that-wasn’t in the previous night’s Europa League game against Borussia Monchengladbach which led to an equaliser. Nor is it because one of his dogs, who arrived from England the previous day, is being moody with him.



“I asked for a latte,” he explains as he sits down for an exclusive interview. “And they’ve poured me a cup of milk. So I’ve had to explain that a latte is a coffee, but latte actually means milk.”



Smalling takes a little time to warm up, but when he really starts talking he’s...