Fulham’s fairytale ended in heartbreak, as Diego Forlan was on target twice in Hamburg to keep the Cottagers away from the trophy. A 104-year trophy drought has not seen the Cottagers win the Europa League in more than a century.
The final looked well on its way to the dreaded penalty shootouts, until the former Manchester United man Forlan collaborated well with Sergio Aguero to back-flick one between the keeper and defender to seal the win with just 4 minutes to go in extra time.
Earlier it was the Uruguayan who was on target in the first half to put Atletico ahead. But Simon Davies replied quickly for Fulham to level the proceedings, to keep the dreams of their first ever-European trophy alive.
But Forlan was not done and the man, who led the downfall of Liverpool in the same competition during the semi finals, tried to prove that his unsuccessful time at Old Trafford was just a bad phase. The pain and agony was evident on the faces of Fulham players, as they were wondering what they had done wrong. On the contrary, Atletico celebrated after the decisive goal late in the game.
Fulham will be utterly disappointed not to go all the way and win the trophy. They fell at the final hurdle, in a season where they had taken Europe by storm, and surprised one and all. The grit and determination shown by them was enough to make the audiences believe that they were on their way to the final. Fulham had rolled over some of the biggest European names in the championship. However, Atletico stood in their way, which became the cause of their downfall in the final match.
Fulham just could not come up with the same game, which had led them this far. Their ace striker Bobby Zamora was quite unimpressive up front. One should bear in mind that the font man was battling with Achilles tendon injury, which he aggravated during the final. He is now expected to have surgery.
Although the club from England could not win the final, but it has gained a lot of praise and respect from all the clubs in Europe. Manager Roy Hogson has taken the club from the brink of relegation to being a goal away from European glory. It will be a tough task for the shareholders to keep him at Fulham, given the interest he has already attracted from clubs around the world. The other clubs feel that if Fulham can go a long way with a limited amount of resources, Hodgson can take other clubs to newer heights if he has more funds to play around with.
Fulham as expected did call back Zamora and Duff into their starting line-up as both have been integral part of their European campaign. However, as mentioned earlier, Zamora just was not himself; bothered by the injury he was just not mobile enough, while Duff was also not able to make his threatening moves down the wing. On the contrary, the attacking duo form Madrid, Forlan and Aguero were completely on their game, making the Fulham defence put in an extra shift. When Forlan scored in the thirty-second minute, it was the combination of the two, which lead to the goal. Aguero and Forlan did mount a number of attacks towards the Fulham goal. Without any surprise, it was once again the argentine Aguero who made the run down left wing, and laid off Forlan to cleverly slot the ball into the back of the net by using his head as much as his foot.
The win also marks the first European triumph for Atletico in their clubs history. Meanwhile Fulham will have to wait for a few more years for their first silverware.
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