Roma defender Chris Smalling and his family were victims of an armed robbery at their home early on Friday.

The robbery took place at the former Manchester United centre-back’s home in southern Rome, with luxury watches and jewellery taken.

Smalling was forced to hand the items over to three armed men before they left the house.

Police, who were called to the house at 5am local time, are investigating the incident, in which no-one was harmed.

Smalling is understood to be shocked by the incident but is now calm after the situation was brought under control.

On Thursday evening, the defender watched from the sidelines with a knee injury as Roma secured a Europa League quarter-final aggregate win over Ajax.

Smalling, who earned the last of his 31 England caps in June 2017, joined Roma in October 2020 on a permanent deal, having spent the previous season on loan.

He told BBC Sport in February of that year how settled he and his family felt in the Italian capital.