Quotes from Chris Smalling

As I've got older I've become a lot more conscious of my diet and making sure I was getting all the right things.

We take more risks at United than the majority of teams but the manager wants us to play.

I've had many setbacks.

When you get the shirt and a position in the team, you don't want to give it up.

You do see very few English players going abroad and those that do are largely good players otherwise they wouldn't have gone, but I feel a lot of their downfall is in the language. On the pitch you can learn the different basics of 'left,' 'right' and 'behind you' but off the pitch you want to have that influence around the team.

It's nice when you can have that battle on the pitch and then there's respect after the game because, ultimately, you are just trying to do your best.

I quite like being aggressive and horrible which gives you more confidence to dictate over strikers and to make them feel they have had a frustrating game when they've walked off the pitch, feeling very down.

Football Beyond Borders is about learning, establishing new beliefs in an ability to succeed.

Hopefully I can take my chances when I get them.

I want the supporters to know that we're always striving to improve.

You're never going to be bulletproof, but if you're feeding yourself good food and making sure you're eating the right supplements, I think you reduce the chances of getting any niggling injuries.

You can have so many different demands; trying to please the fans, pleasing the manager, please yourself.

There are lots of aspects to work on my game, which the coaches do with me every day.

It is nice to hear yourself being compared to great players.

I love a challenge and when a new centre-back comes in it makes you raise your game. You have to show more, you have to be more consistent.

Whether it's the Premier League or the Champions League, I can showcase my abilities.

I think Serie A has always been a goal of mine to play in one day, because as a defender if you get the chance to experience Serie A you want to do it.

I think a lot of managers say that it starts from the front and us as defenders know it helps our job when the front two strikers put that pressure on. If they can do that it makes our job a lot easier.

Playing in the Manchester derby definitely helped me.

I just have to make sure that, whenever an opportunity arises, I keep taking them.

You learn that you can't take what's happened in the previous years for granted.

We have to take a greater stand against discrimination of all kinds.

You work every day technically, physically but so much is in the mind. Look at when players go on big scoring runs, then stop scoring. It's not that they are any different physically, it's very often mental, confidence, concentration.

All of us are professionals and no player wants not to play.