The director of Roma, Tiago Pinto, has criticized England manager Gareth Southgate for ignoring Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling when they were playing for the Italian team.

Abraham was expected to support Harry Kane in Qatar, while Smalling had little chance of going despite England's defenders' inconsistent play.

Abraham's recent lack of goals, according to Southgate, was the reason for his removal from the starting lineup.

Pinto, however, is unimpressed, questioning the England manager's judgment and wondering why Smalling shouldn't be in the team instead of Harry Maguire, who regularly sits on Manchester United's bench.

“I cannot accept, both Roma and the representatives of other clubs, that people try to justify international call-ups with what is happening at club level,” Pinto told DAZN.

“If Tammy is not part of the England squad because he didn’t score over the last month, for example, but they called up a player who was on the bench for his club yesterday, then in that case Smalling ought to be a starter for England.”