Fulham 4 Juventus 1(Agg: 5-4): Clint Dempsey's late winner sealed Fulham's place in the last eight of the Europa League in an incredible win over Italian giants Juventus at Craven Cottage. Dempsey's clever chip past Antonio Chimenti sealed an historic 5-4 aggregate win for the Cottagers.
Bobby Zamora cancelled out David Trezeguet’s opener before Fulham surged into a 3-1 lead thanks to two goals from Zoltan Gera. Juventus had been reduced to 10 men after Fabio Cannavaro was sent off in the first half.
Jonathan Zebina also saw red after kicking out at Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff in the closing stages.
Dempsey admitted his gamble had paid off after his stunning strike booked Fulham’s passage into the quarter-finals.
“I just thought, what the heck and tried to put it in the far post and it went in,” Dempsey explained “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.”
It is less than two years since Fulham only escaped relegation from the Premier League at the death and Dempsey added: “It’s life, everything changes and you have to keep working hard.”
Dempsey will appear for the United States at the World Cup this summer with Zamora currently an outside bet for England.
The American would not be drawn as to whether his domestic team-mate should be selected, saying: “It’s not up to me to make the decision but I wish him the best because he has been great for us.”
Manager Hodgson admitted he especially enjoyed the victory given his former involvement with Inter Milan, saying: “I’ve tried to like them but beating Juventus is something special on all occasions.”
He also paid tribute to his team’s resilience after their early setback, adding: “We tried to give them a bigger lift by conceding a goal after one minute 40 seconds or something but I was really impressed by how the players put that behind them and carried on playing.
“I still thought we could win the game. When Bobby equalised and we got the second I thought, who knows? We could do something if we played as well in the second half and that is what happened.”