Roy wonders: Fulham stun Italian giants Juventus to reach last eight of the Europa League

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEa4OqxaoSIendofvid
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By Laura Williamson

Up and away: Fulham's Zoltan Gera celebrates his penalty goal against Juventus


Fulham pulled off a sensational comeback to stun Juventus and reach a European quarter-final for the first time after an extraordinary evening at Craven Cottage.

Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, Roy Hodgson's side achieved the seemingly impossible to win 4-1 and clinch a 5-4 aggregate Europa League success.

David Trezeguet looked to have ended Fulham's chances with an early goal before Bobby Zamora quickly level led, Zoltan Gera struck twice and Clint Dempsey's superb chip sealed victory. The Italian giants finished with nine men after Fabio Cannavaro and Jonathan Zebina were sent off.

'I'm on top of the world,' beamed 62-year-old Hodgson.

'I don't know if it is the biggest night in the club's history but it must come close.'

Hodgson saluted the character of his players after coming back to steal the unlikely win.

'I was very impressed with how they came back,' said the former Inter Milan boss.
'We couldn't have had a worse start.


Night to remember: The scoreboard at Craven Cottage


'We went behind to a simple goal which made an uphill task even steeper but even from that point the team started to play well and the crowd got behind us and even at half time I thought we were looking good to win the game.

'It was never going to be impossible to turn it around and luckily that has happened.'

In truth Fulham could have beaten Juve's veteran goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti six or seven times with Dickson Etuhu and Simon Davies hitting the woodwork in the second half.

But it was Clint Dempsey who will go down in Fulham folklore as the man who put the Cottagers through.

The substitute sealed the victory with a spectacular chip that eluded Chimenti in the 83rd minute to send the capacity crowd at Craven Cottage wild.


Did you hear about the Zoltans? Fulham fan Hugh Grant texts the score to his celebrity mates


Dempsey told ESPN: 'I just thought, what the heck and tried to put it in the far post and it went in.

'Nine times out of 10 you won't make it but sometimes you've got to take a risk.

It's great, we showed a lot of heart and character to fight back but we are in the next round.'

Hodgson will find out who his team will face next in the competition when the draw for the quarter finals is made in Nyon at 2pm tomorrow.

Until then Hodgson can sit back and take stock of what has been a remarkable European campaign which began with a 3-0 qualifying win over Lithuanian minnows Vetra in July.

'To get to the quarter final of this competition is extremely good because we played our first match at the end of July and we will still be playing in this competition next month.

'When I reached the final (as manager of Inter Milan) our European campaign was nowhere near as long as this one has been, I think it encompassed 12 games including a two-legged final.


Juve been framed: Clint Dempsey scores with a clever chip over keeper Antonio Chimenti


'By the end of the next match we'll have played 16 games now and I think it is a remarkable achievement that the boys have done so well.'

Juventus manager Alberto Zaccheroni, meanwhile, said Cannavaro's red card, which was issued for pulling back Gera, turned the game .

'We are disappointed with the result,' he said.

'We feared Fulham and they played well but as soon as we went down to 10 men we struggled.

'I have seen the replay of the incident and I think the referee was too strict.'
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