Chris Smalling has revealed that Roma “focused on not conceding” against KAA Gent as they are “planning” to make the Europa League Final in Gdansk.
The Giallorossi bounced back from an early scare and Justin Kluivert scored the important away goal in the 1-1 draw at the GHELAMCO-arena in Belgium.
Roma came through after a 2-1 win on aggregate and Smalling admitted that they were only concerned about getting to the last 16 of the Europa League.
“Yeah, I think tonight was about making sure we are in the hat tomorrow,” he told Roma TV. “Once we got the away goal, we knew they would have to score three.
“The focus was on making sure we didn’t concede any more. I think in the second half, we perhaps dropped a bit too deep, but overall we got the away goal and we saw the game out.”
The English defender praised Gent after the final whistle and insisted that the Giallorossi knew what to expect in Belgium.
“They were a tough team,” he added. “We knew before we came here that they had not lost at home all season. You could tell they had a lot of confidence.
“We had to be strong and the lads were running hard, fighting hard, putting in blocks and that’s what we are as a team.
“We worked hard together, and you saw that on the pitch as we wanted to make sure we were in the hat for tomorrow’s draw.”
The Manchester United loanee could potentially be up against his old teammates at Old Trafford in the next round, but Smalling said Roma are planning to go all the way and doesn’t mind who they have to face.
“No preference. Our plan is to get to the Final, so bring on anyone.”
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