Fulham Defeat Hamburg – Go through to Europa Final

Zoltan Gera scores the game winner to put Fulham through to the final

Fulham Football Club have had an amazing season. No, not in the Premiership. They have done fine there, doing what’s been needed to stay mid-table. But for some time now manager Roy Hodgson has said all the club’s efforts would be thrown towards Europa competition. And have they been competitive. The little club from Southwest London, or SW6, is the only English team still in Europe. The Cottagers defeated Hamburg at Craven Cottage 2-1 to move to the final which will be played at Hamburg’s stadium. Perhaps that makes the win even more dramatic in that the German team must have had extra motivation. But Fulham made another come-from-behind victory to put them through to its first European final in the club’s 131-year history.

The club, the players, manager and supporters have to be feeling extremely proud.

Fulham FC reports that Roy Hodgson was greeted with a round of applause when he entered the post-match press conference after Fulham’s historic win over Hamburg at Craven Cottage.

“After going a goal down against the run of play I think we made a major piece of history here in a very special atmosphere,” Hodgson told the press.

“I think lots of teams would have lost their discipline and shape, but we stayed strong.

“This Club has had some bad times and we’ve looked into the abyss once or twice. Everyone is proud that we’re about to start our 10th Premier League season.

“And to have reached a Europa League final – and I don’t care if you’re Fulham or one of the top four – is an outstanding achievement. That will be recognized by everyone.

“I can only enjoy the moment and make sure that the glory on the players is not deflected elsewhere.

“We’re in the Final because we’ve played very, very well throughout and knocked out some very difficult teams, not least Hamburg.

“It’s been a wonderful journey that I’m really proud of. The Team have produced better football than we’re entitled to ask of them.  It was a great performance because it would have been so easy for us to lose our heads after the great goal they scored.

“I thought we were good value for our victory and the character of this team has been proved time and time again. Normally success softens you and makes you less determined but that hasn’t been the case with this team throughout this season.

“It’s been an amazingly long season yet watching the players run around in the second-half it didn’t look as though we’d played 59 games this season.”

Fulham will now see Atletico Madrid in the final after the Spanish team threw Liverpool out of the competition. The game winning goal scorer Zoltan Gera said it doesn’t matter who Fulham’s opponent is.

“To be honest, I didn’t care if it was Atletico or Liverpool,” said Gera. “Atletico will be a different style to an English team, yes, but whether or not that’s a good thing we will see after the final. I’m very happy, very proud and I can’t believe it at the moment that we’ll be playing in a European Final. So I’ll enjoy the moment and then we’ll look ahead to winning the Final.”

“It’s been a squad achievement and everyone deserves credit. And as for the Manager, I can’t explain how good he is.”

For a fan’s perspective please see my friend Rich Allen’s blog Craven Cottage Newsround for his always excellent writing.

The Fulham website has a good game summary.