All the pre-match talk was simply about how many Roma would plunder, but plucky underdogs Cremonese successfully negotiated the opening quarter-hour without undue trouble, and unexpectedly shaded the possession stats despite their goal being peppered by Roma’s attack.
The game’s first big chance of note unsurprisingly fell Roma’s way, but Leonardo Spinazzola could only blaze over on the volley from inside the box.
Despite scoring a league-high number of home goals in the 15 minutes preceding half-time last season, Roma were unable to claim a lead at the break despite the best efforts of substitute Stephan El Shaarawy, whose effort forced a smart save out of Ionut Radu.
A palpable sense of frustration was again felt around the Stadio Olimpico, potentially setting the scene for an upset of the ages and Cremonese’s first Serie A away win against Roma since October 1993.
Roma indeed came incredibly close to falling behind straight after half-time, when a rejuvenated Cremonese flew out of the traps and Cyriel Dessers slammed an effort against the crossbar.
While the crossbar was still reverberating at one end of the Olimpico pitch, El Shaarawy rattled the woodwork at the other, before new signing Paulo Dybala skewed the rebound wide when it seemed for all the world he would open the scoring.
Cremonese had defended valiantly for large parts of this match, but their resistance was eventually broken in unlikely fashion, when Smalling powered home from Lorenzo Pellegrini’s pin-point corner.
In truth, a 1-0 victory somewhat flattered Cremonese, who remain stuck on just one win from their seven previous top-flight away games against Roma.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)