Fulham 4-1 Juventus (Agg 5-4)

Posted Friday, March 19, 2010 by Goal.com

Fulham advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League after overturning a 3-1 deficit and an early set-back against Juventus, courtesy of a Bobby Zamora strike, a Zoltan Gera brace and a Clint Dempsey wonder goal.

Fulham had it all to do if they were to turn around the 3-1 deficit from the first leg in Turin, but their attack-minded starting line-up showed some promise. However, they got off to the worst possible start, as poor defending again let them down.

Juventus started brightly, passing the ball around comfortably inside the surprisingly quiet Craven Cottage and they took the lead within two minutes. The Fulham defence failed to deal with Hasan Salihamidzic’s cross which David Trezeguet latched onto and neatly dispatched past a stranded Mark Schwarzer.

The hosts responded well after the restart and looked to find a vital goal which they nearly found instantly. The tricky Damien Duff worked his way down the left and whipped in a dangerous ball towards Simon Davies who had just tucked in too far and the ball drifted inches over his head.

Fulham continued to probe the Juventus defense in the hope of a miracle and were given a lifeline in the shape of a wonderful Bobby Zamora goal. Paul Konchesky overlapped down the left flank and centered for Zamora who held off the challenge from Fabio Cannavaro to chest the ball down before firing home.

With the score at 2-4 on aggregate, Fulham had no other choice than to continue to pressure the visitors’ defense, which is exactly what they did.

Zamora was again in action just minutes later after Stephen Kelly’s testing cross found Zoltan Gera at the far post who headed the ball back across goal. Zamora looked certain to get on the end of it but a desperate challenge from Cannavaro saw the ball cleared. The Italian defender can think himself lucky that he didn’t give away a penalty as he was manhandling Zamora in the box.

Cannavaro was at it again from the next Fulham attack as a Davies corner was whipped in toward the giant Brede Hangeland. However, the Norwegian defender could only head it over the bar as Cannavaro shoved him in the back at the worst possible moment.

Referee Bjor Kuipers failed to see the two previous offenses but was on hand when Cannavaro committed his next foul. This time, though, the Juventus captain was the last man as he brought down Gera and the referee had no other choice than to send the Italian off.

The ‘Old Lady’ were then forced to make a tactical substitution in an attempt to keep their precious lead intact. Striker Antonio Candreva made way for defender Zdenek Grygera.

From the resulting free-kick, World Cup hopeful Zamora curled the ball towards the top corner of the visitors’ net only to see it clawed away from a flying Antonio Chimenti.

As expected, the visitors sat back and Fulham continued to pressure the opposition and very nearly went close to taking the lead after 37 minutes. Trezeguet fouled Duff on the right flank and Welshman Davies stepped up to take the resulting free-kick. Everybody in the area expected a cross but the midfielder fooled everyone and lashed the ball towards goal only to see it cannon off the back post.

Two minutes later, the south west London club hit the woodwork again after Davies’ corner found Dickson Etuhu in the centre of the box but his header rattled Chimenti’s post.

Understandably, the 10-men of Juventus were rocking and only seconds after hitting the upright for a second time, so was Craven Cottage. Zamora's clever flick into the penalty area released Davies, who sent over a low cross to the far post for Gera to turn the ball home from close range.

The teams came out for the second half very much in the same way as the first half ended, with Fulham on top. And with just one minute on the clock, they were awarded a penalty. Gera’s back heel released Duff down the right-hand side and the Irishman curled a fierce ball into the area which was stopped by the hand of Ribas Diego, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Accidental or not, it was a definite penalty.

The man who started the move, Gera, stepped up to take the penalty and held his nerve to drill the ball into the left-hand-side of the net.

With the scores level 3-3 on aggregate, Juve made a change by replacing the unusually ineffective Mauro Camoranesi with Paolo De Ceglie. Instantly, the visitors went on the attack and were rewarded with their first real chance in a very long time.

An inch perfect long ball from Diego found 2006 World Cup runner-up Trezeguet on the edge of the area, but he failed to make true contact with his volley and the ball rolled into Schwarzer's arms.

Fulham soon got back into the game and were very unfortunate not to be awarded another penalty. Man of the moment Zamora chipped a ball over the Juve defense, which Gera latched on to. Caught in a sandwich of two defenders, the Hungarian went to ground but referee Kuipers waved play on and the onrushing Duff blazed well over the bar.

Momentarily, both sides failed to get the ball out of their midfield, but keeping true to the flow of the game, it was the home side that created the next couple of chances.

After some slick passing, Davies received the ball on the edge of the area and quickly hit a snap-shot towards goal which was pushed away by Chimenti. The outstanding Zamora again came close to extending the hosts' lead as he, at full stretch, launched himself at Duff’s deep cross but was unable to make contact.

Roy Hodgson decided to make an attacking change as his team went for the win, bringing on Clint Dempsey in place of Stephen Kelly.

Instantly, the American made a huge impact as he fired his side in the lead for the first time on the night. With the Juve defence backing off on the edge of the area, Dempsey traveled forward and unbelievably chipped Chimenti from 20 yards, leaving the keeper routed to the spot.

If the goal didn’t put the game to bed and reassure the Craven Cottage faithful, then the sending off of Jonathan Zebina two minutes before time surely did.

Fulham thoroughly deserved the win after completely outclassing one of the giants of football.