Fulham have dramatically advanced to the Europa League final after beat Hamburg 2-1

HAMBURG 1
- Petric 22'

FULHAM 2
- Davies 70'
- Gera 76'

**Fulham have dramatically advanced to the Europa League final after coming from a goal down in the second half to beat Hamburg 2-1 on the night and on aggregate.

Mladen Petric fired the visitors in front with a critical away goal in the 22nd minute when he curled in a phenomenal free kick beyond Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from 30 yards.

Hamburg seemed totally in control until just before the hour mark, when hobbled Fulham striker Bobby Zamora was replaced by Clint Dempsey.

Eleven minutes later, Fulham pulled the score level when Simon Davies scored a fine goal on two touches - the first to elude Guy Demel and the second to slot past goalkeeper Frank Rost.

Then, in the 76th minute, Fulham completed the turnaround off a corner kick when Davies effort deflected out into the path of Zoltan Gera for a calm finish.

Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a late shot in stoppage time, but Hamburg had been completely deflated by the goals.

Fulham now advance to the Europa League final which is held this season, ironically, in Hamburg.

Team Line-Ups:

Fulham: Schwarzer, Konchesky, Hughes, Hangeland, Pantsil (Nevland 75 '), Etuhu, Duff, Murphy, Davies, Gera, Zamora (Dempsey 58')

Hamburg: Rost; Demel, Mathijsen, Boateng, Jarolím (Rozenhal 91 '), Ze Roberto, Pitroipa, Aogo, Tesche (Rincon 56') (Guerrero 79 '), Van Nistelrooy, Petric

Atletico Madrid are through to the final of the UEFA Europa League despite losing 2-1 at Liverpool

LIVERPOOL 2
- Aquilani 44,
- Benayoun 95

ATLETICO MADRID 1
- Forlan 102

**Atletico Madrid are through to the final of the UEFA Europa League despite losing 2-1 at Liverpool. Diego Forlan's extra time goal handed the Spaniards an away goal advantage.

Liverpool took the lead just before half time with Alberto Aquilani directing the ball past keeper David de Gea after a cross from Yossi Benayoun.

With the aggregate score level, extra time was needed at Anfield with Liverpool doubling their lead after five minutes as Benayoun turned in a right-winged cross from Lucas.

But the home crowd was silenced seven minutes later as poor marking allowed Jose Antonio Reyes to find Diego Forlan in the area, and the Uruguayan blasted it home for 2-1.

Atletico now had the away goal advantage, forcing Liverpool to score another in the remainder of extra time.

But the English could not create much danger near De Gea after Forlan's goal, which as it turned out was enough to lead his team to the Europa League final against Fulham.

Team Line-Ups:

Liverpool: Reina, Mascherano, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Lucas, Benayoun, Aquilani, Babel, Kuyt. Subs: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Degen, El Zhar, Ayala, Pacheco

Atletico Madrid: De Gea, Valera, Dominguez, Perea, Antonio Lopez, Reyes, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Garcia, Simao, Aguero, Forlan. Subs: Sergio Asenjo, Camacho, Jurado, Salvio, Juanito, Ujfalusi, Cabrera

Torres with convincing struck twice, Dirk Kuyt and Lucas were also on target with a 4-1 victory against Benfica (agg 5-3)

LIVERPOOL 4
- Kuyt 27,
- Leiva 34,
- Torres 58,
- Torres 82

BENFICA 1
- Cardozo 70


**FERNANDO Torres struck twice as Liverpool produced a devastating attacking performance to power past Benfica into the Europa League semi-finals last night.

Dirk Kuyt and Lucas were also on target on a pulsating night at Anfield as the Reds overturned a 2-1 deficit from the first leg of their quarter-final tie.

Oscar Cardozo threatened to make life difficult with a goal that made it 3-1 on the night but Torres' second delightful finish ended the contest.

It was a performance that came in marked contrast to Liverpool's struggles in the Barclays Premier League and their increasingly forlorn attempts to finish fourth.

Benfica actually started the stronger and had an early opportunity after Jamie Carragher pushed the charging Pablo Aimar over on the edge of the box. Angel di Maria's free-kick went straight into the wall and was put behind for a corner.

Liverpool, though, began to take charge. They levelled the tie in the 27th minute after Yossi Benayoun won a corner on the left. Steven Gerrard delivered a perfect cross for Dirk Kuyt from the resulting set-piece and the Dutchman headed home from six yards.

Liverpool followed up with a second goal six minutes later as Gerrard slipped Lucas in on goal with a superb ball. The Brazilian showed great composure to swerve around Julio Cesar and tap in his first goal in 11 months.

The job was far from done, however, and Liverpool survived a couple of scares before the break as Cardozo fired a free-kick at Jose Reina and Sidnei had a shot deflected for a corner.

But Liverpool's deserved third arrived just before the hour from a swift counter-attack. Lucas was struck between the legs as the Reds defended a free-kick inside their own half. Benayoun raced into the Benfica half and spread the ball wide for Kuyt, whose first-time cross was swept in by the onrushing Torres.

Benfica, though, pulled one back on 70 minutes after Kuyt fouled Ramires on the edge of the area. Cardozo, who scored two penalties in the first leg, blasted in a low shot through a gap in the wall.

The Reds battled on and showed the resolve to kill off the tie eight minutes from time. Lucas won the ball in midfield with a powerful challenge and Javier Mascherano sent Torres clear with a brilliant pass. Torres made no mistake as he raced into the area and clipped the ball over keeper Jose Moreira – a replacement for the injured Cesar just moments earlier – with delicate poise. Torres will now face his former club, Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals after their 0-0 draw with Valencia saw them win on away goals.

Team Line-Ups :

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Gerrard (Aquilani 88), Benayoun (El Zhar 90), Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Torres (Ngog 86)

Benfica: Julio Cesar (Jose Filipe 79); Luisao, David Luiz, Sidnei; Aimar (Coentrao 86), Martins (Kardec 66), Filipe Marcos, Javi Garcia, In Maria; Ramires, Cardozo

Bobby Zamora made Fulham's the continued victory with the crucial goal scored

**Fulham's extraordinary season took another twist as they secured their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg, rubberstamping his side's ticket into the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

The powerful forward showed guile and composure in abundance to extend the visitors' aggregate margin to 3-1 at the VfL Wolfsburg Arena with less than 22 seconds on the clock.

Bobby Zamora found himself just inside the box with no defenders willing to make a tackle after the visitors played the ball forward, with Zoltan Gera finding Zamora in space.

Fulham could have easily extended their winning margin, however, with Simon Davies denied by Benaglio from close range before Danny Murphy's strike was cleared off the line by Andrea Barzagli.

Hangeland then scrambled back to clear Grafite's shot off the line after he reacted quickest to Dzeko's shot that had rebounded off a post.

Team Line-Ups :

VfL Wolfsburg : Diego Benaglio, Andrea Barzagli, Sascha Riether, Marcel Schafer, Jan Simunek (Humberto Alves Rever 76), Peter Pekarik (Ashkan Dejagah 35), Zvjezdan Misimovic, Josué, Christian Gentner (Obafemi Martins 61), Edin Dzeko, Libano Batista Edinaldo Grafite

Fulham : Mark Schwarzer, Paul Konchesky, Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes, Brede Hangeland, Dickson Etuhu, Damien Duff, Danny Murphy, Simon Davies (Bjorn Helge Riise 86), Zoltan Gera (Erik Nevland82), Bobby Zamora

Babel sent-off, Daniel Agger goal with just under 10 minutes played.

BENFICA 2
* Cardozo (pen) 59,
* Cardozo (pen) 79

LIVERPOOL 1
* Agger 9

**Liverpool lit up the Stadium of Light with a 9th minute backheel before the referee sent off Ryan Babel, disallowed a Liverpool goal then gave Benfica two penalties - as the pressure from the illegal fire-crackers began to tell.

Liverpool’s only change from the weekends excellent win over Sunderland was the replacement of the cup-tied Rodriguez with Lucas.

Contrary to many people’s expectations the reds opened exceptionally brightly, dominating the opening exchanges and taking an early lead.

Steven Gerrard was felled just outside the box, one of many cynical fouls from the Portuguese side.

The resultant free kick showed that the reds set-piece work continues to be a training ground priority. A slide-rule pass found Daniel Agger who backheeled in to the goal. It was just desserts for the Danish defender, who had been searching all Sunday at Anfield to get himself on the scoresheet.

Aimar and Di Maria began to get involved in the game and were landing some crosses on to Cardozo’s head. But the chances were too far out and the player could not get sufficient power to trouble Pepe Reina.

In the 30th minute though it was time for Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson to take some of the limelight. Luisao hacked down Fernando Torres with a cynical tackle from behind and was yellow carded. Babel approached the player and an altercation resulted in Babel raising his hand to push the player away.

The referee brandished the yellow card again at the player before showing Babel the red card. Confused, so were we.

As the half wore on Benfica grew with their one man advantage. Towards the end of the half Insua was booked , meaning he misses the next leg. With Aurelio and now Martin Kelly injured – this could present the reds with a problem.

Liverpool had a goal ruled out for offside which on replay was not clear-cut.

The second half saw Benfica kicking towards their favoured end of the ground – and the firecrackers thrown on to the pitch to cloud Pepe’s judgement were a significant danger. The goalline official looked nervous, on more than one occassion walking away to speak to the referee.

On the hour the referee gifted Benfica a free kick after Agger had clearly taken the ball. From the free kick which rebounded off the post Insua haplessly brought down Aimar. Cardozo smashed in the penalty to level the result.

Following this, the game ebbed and flowed again – the reds should have scored when Torres was put one on one with the keeper – his shot going wide.

Jamie Carragher then sealed the reds fate when he handled the ball, again, from a Di Maria cross. Cardozu was on hand to put the penalty away.

Liverpool were unlucky to get beaten – and coped as well as they could with 10 men for most of the game. Next Thursday’s game will be interesting – Liverpool will certainly be out for revenge.

Man of the Match: Daniel Agger

Teams :

Benfica: Julio Cesar, Maxi Pereira (Nuno Gomes '66), Luisao, David Luiz, Fabio Coentrao, Javi Garcia, Ramires, Carlos Martins (Ruben Amorim '72 Marcos), At Maria, Aimar (Airton Ribeiro '86), Cardozo.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Lucas, Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard (Benayoun 90), Babel, Torres (Ngog '82).

Source : anfield-online.co.uk

Goal crucial Clint Dempsey send to the quarter-finals in Europa League

FULHAM 4
- Zamora 9,
- Gera 39,
- Gera (pen) 49,
- Dempsey 82

JUVENTUS 1
- Trezeguet 2

**Fulham trounced European giants Juventus 4-1 (5-4 on aggregate) at Craven Cottage to reach the Europa League quarter-finals in a stunning victory Thursday.

The host looked shock when David Trezeguet gave Juventus an early lead at Craven Cottage. The opener goal for Juventus started when passing the ball around comfortably inside the surprisingly quiet Craven Cottage and they took the lead within two minutes.

But Bobby Zamora's strike gave the hosts hope and were given a lifeline in the shape of a wonderful Bobby Zamora goal. At which point, Konchesky crosses from the left, Cannavaro falls to the floor and Zamora chests the ball down unopposed and scores from six yards.

That Juventus lead inside three minutes failed is largely owing to the controversial decision of referee Bjorn Kuipers to send off Cannavaro.

Imaginable, the 10-men of Juventus were rafferty and only seconds 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.

A backheel from Gera released Damien Duff and when Diego's hand cut out the resulting cross in the box. A good penalty, the keeper wouldn't have stopped it even if he hadn't gone the wrong way. It's all level now, and Fulham have 40 minutes against 10 men to get the winner.

Make an attacking change conducted by Roy Hodgson’s as his team went for the win, bringing on Clint Dempsey in place of Stephen Kelly.

Instantly, the American made a huge impact just outside the penalty area. He carries the ball a few paces to his left and then lifts it over the keeper and looping in at the far post from 20 yards. That is brilliant goal on the night.

Final result Fulham defeated Juventus 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of soccer’s Europa League.

Team Line-ups:

Fulham: Schwarzer; Konchesky, Baird, Hughes, Hangeland, Kelly (Dempsey 71); Etuhu, Duff, Davies, Gera (Riise 85); Zamora

Juventus: Chimenti; Cannavaro, Grosso (Del Piero 85), Zebina; Camoranesi (De Ceglie 52), Salihamidzic, Sissoko, Diego, Melo, Candreva (Grygera 28); Trezeguet

Gerrard scored, Torres double in the party's revenge at Anfield Stadium

**Liverpool conceded a 1-0 defeat when they visited Lille in France in first leg match. But they are a strong side and can overcome the one goal deficit when they take on Lille at Anfield Stadium. They only thing which Rafa wants from his players is to play their own game and create chances so they can do it tonight.

The Reds began the match confidently when Steven Gerrard penalty on eight minutes after Lucas was felled by Adil Rami following a fine run past four players.

From the penalty spot Gerrard made no mistake sending Landreau the wrong way to give the home side the lead and level the tie up on aggregate.

In the second half Torres chipped in the second after the break with a goal in the 49th minute. A typically adept finish from the Spaniard a long ball from Babel was misjudged by Rami and fell into the path of Torres 25 yards from goal, to give the home side the lead in the tie

Starting from Kuyt shot on the right and fed Gerrard, who shot from 20 yards in the 90th minute and Torres pounced, flipping it casually into the net from seven yards.

Liverpool sealed the passage into the quarter finals of the competition thanks to a second goal from Torres and 3-1 on aggregate as they progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Team Line-ups :

Liverpool : Reina, Johnson, Agger (Kyrgiakos 90), Insua, Carragher, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Torres (Ngog 90), Kuyt, 19 Babel (Benayoun 80)

Lille : Landreau, Emerson, Beria, Rami, Balmont (Aubameyang 71), Cabaye, Obraniak, Chedjou Fongang, Mavuba, Hazard (Vandam 86), Frau (Toure 58)

Hatem Ben Arfa managed to grab a vital late away goal.

BENFICA 1
- Pereira 76

MARSEILLE 1
- Ben Arfa 90

**Benfica and Marseille battled to a score draw in the first leg of their Europa League last sixteen clash in Portugal.

Di Maria then missed probably Benfica’s best chance of the game. He had enough time and space to slot the ball into any part of the goal he wished. Instead he laced his foot through the ball and sent it flying over the crossbar.

Benfica eventually got their just rewards through Pereira just before 80 minutes. He broke through a crowd of defenders and managed to just nudge the ball past the on rushing goalkeeper.

Marseille piled on the pressure and responded in injury time through substitute, Hatem Ben Arfa. He managed to steer the ball in from range to grab a vital late away goal.

Team Lineups :

Benfica : Jacobi Julio Cesar, Anderson Luisao, Maximiliano Victor Pereira, Moreira David Luiz, Paulo Cesar Peixoto (Alexandre Fabio Coentrao, 76), Francisco Javier Garcia, Santos Ramires, Pablo Aimar (Carlos Jorge Martins, 65), Angel Di Maria, Oscar Cardozo, Javier Saviola (de Oliveira Eder Luis, 88)

Marseille : Steve Mandanda, Taye Taiwo, Souleymane Diawara, Laurent Bonnart, Edouard Cisse, Benoit Cheyrou, Luis Lucho Gonzalez, Stephane M'Bia, Fabrice Abriel (Matthieu Valbuena, 70), Evaeverson Lemos Brandao, Mamadou Niang (Hatem Ben Arfa, 75)

Three first-half goals Juventus by Legrottaglie, Zebina, Trezeguet

JUVENTUS 3
- Legrottaglie 8,
- Zebina 25,
- Trezeguet 45

FULHAM 1
- Etuhu 36

**Three first-half goals saw Juventus take command of their Europa League last 16 first leg match at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin with Fulham.

Juventus grabbed a ninth minute lead. Diego’s right wing corner was a good one, and Nicola Legrottaglie met it with a bullet header, Cannavaro and Legrottaglie both attacked it powerfully, with the latter meeting it and sending a downward header into the net from 12 yards.

Juventus were starting to look more confident and they duly doubled their lead on 25 minutes. Candreva took two defenders with him as he walzted forwar from the middle to the right, then rolled the ball back to Zebina. He beat Davies and shrugged off Etuhu before drilling an excellent right-foot shot from 25 yards.

Simon Davies curled in a freekick from the left that was headed down to Euthu on the edge of the area. His snapshot was going wide until it took a hefty deflection off Legrottaglie - that wrong-footed Manninger and the ball spun into the net, 2-1 position.

But, amazingly, Juventus managed to extend their lead on the stroke of half-time. From the resulting corner David Trezeguet hit the post with his first effort, but the rebound fell kindly for the Frenchman and he steered a shot across Schwarzer at the second attempt.

Team Lineups :

Juventus : Alex Manninger, Fabio Cannavaro, Fabio Grosso, Jonathan Zebina, Nicola Legrottaglie, Hasan Salihamidzic (Mauro German Camoranesi, 46), Claudio Marchisio, Christian Poulsen (Mohamed Sissoko, 76), Antonio Candreva, Ribas da Cunha Diego, David Trezeguet (Vincenzo Iaquinta, 62)

Fulham : Mark Schwarzer, Paul Konchesky, Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes, Zoltan Gera, Damien Duff, Dickson Etuhu, Jonathan Greening, Simon Davies (Clint Dempsey, 61), Bobby Zamora

Ruud van Nistelrooy was delighted to have marked his full Hamburg debut with a goal

HAMBURG 3
- Mathijsen 23
- van Nistelrooy 40
- Jarolim 76

ANDERLECHT 1
- Legear 45

**Ruud van Nistelrooy was delighted to have marked his full Hamburg debut with a goal last night to take the north German club one step closer to their dream UEFA Europa League final in their own stadium thanks to a 3-1 win over Anderlecht.

HSV's quality play soon earned them a deserved lead. Joris Mathijsen found himself onside with the ball at his feet and unmarked just outside the six-yard box, 1-0 position for the host.

Second goal A header from Petric found Elia close to the byline, the Dutch winger sliding the ball into the path of his fellow countryman. Van Nistelrooy then poked the ball past Proto at his front post from a very tight angle, took place in the 40th minute.

In the 45th minute Jonathan Legear stepped over the ball, striking it sweetly and curling it right past Frank Rost into the 'keeper's top left corner, leaving the glovesman with no chance, thus allowing the Belgians to end the half with a bit more confidence, 2-1 position.

The consistent pressure by the home side paid off once again, as a failure to clear a cross from Petric allowed David Jarolim to gallop forward onto the loose ball and fizz a low shot into Proto's right hand corner. Hamburg had taken the score to a more advantageous 3-1.

Teams :

Hamburg : Frank Rost, David Rozehnal, Joris Mathijsen, Dennis Aogo, Marcell Jansen, Jose Ze Roberto, David Jarolim, Tomas Rincon, Mladen Petric, Eljero Elia (Piotr Trochowski, 78),Ruud van Nistelrooy

Anderlecht : Aliaj Sylvio Proto, Ondrej Mazuch, Olivier Deschacht, Jelle Van Damme, Roland Juhasz, Lucas Rodrigo Biglia, Cheikhou Kouyate, Guillaume Gillet, Rubenilson Kanu (Matias Suarez, 77), Jonathan Legear, Romelu Lukaku

Liverpool 1 - 0 Unirea Urziceni: David Ngog leaves it late as Liverpool finally break down Unirea

Liverpool 1
- N'Gog 81

Unirea Urziceni 0

**STRIKER David Ngog's goal nine minutes from time eventually broke the resistance of a determined Unirea Urziceni at Anfield in the Europa League.
With the visitors intent on soaking up plenty of pressure, Rafael Benitez's side struggled to find the creativity to get past the massed Romanian ranks. However, the Frenchman's close-range header meant the Reds have some breathing space as they head to last-32 second leg.

The victory was only Liverpool's third in nine European fixtures since they hammered Real Madrid 4-0 in the last 16 of the Champions League 11 months ago – a disappointing run which contributed to their exit from Europe's elite-level competition in December.

Their job would have been easier had Steven Gerrard converted their first chance after just 25 seconds when Unirea lost possession straight from the kick-off. Albert Riera and Dirk Kuyt linked up for the Dutchman to put the midfielder through but his side-foot shot was tipped over by goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis, who then punched away the Liverpool captain's corner.

Unirea's 4-5-1 formation meant they were happy to keep ten men behind the ball and when Liverpool gained possession they all immediately retreated to the halfway line – meaning the hosts had to work hard for their openings.

However, Kuyt enjoyed some luck in the tenth minute when his heavy touch in the penalty area was not cleared and he followed up to flash a shot across goal which Arlauskis tipped past the post.

Gerrard was next to miss a chance, planting a 12-yard header from Riera's cross well wide.

Riera tried his luck from distance in the 26th minute but his left-foot drive was deflected wide by George Galamaz.

The game had taken on an attack versus defence training exercise with Unirea rarely venturing forward.

When they did, with a counter-attack just after the half-hour, Marius Onofras attempted an audacious lob over Jose Reina from the halfway line wide on the right but the Spain goalkeeper comfortably claimed.

Javier Mascherano's 30-yard drive was deflected wide by Razvan Paduretu while Ngog's shot on the turn from just inside the penalty area was also diverted wide.

Five minutes before half-time Bruno Fernandes was booked for bringing down Gerrard as he looked to burst clear but Daniel Agger drilled the 35-yard free-kick straight into the wall.

Heartened by their first-half performance Unirea looked more inclined to go forward after the break but it was Liverpool who had the first chance with Gerrard heading wide again from Jamie Carragher's 52nd-minute cross.

Pablo Brandan was booked for tripping Gerrard in the centre-circle, ruling him out of next week's second leg through suspension.

Had Paduretu shown more composure on the edge of the area Liverpool could have been in trouble but the midfielder hacked wildly over. Fabio Aurelio then unleashed a low drive on target but he was denied by a good low save from Arlauskis.

The ineffective Riera was replaced by Ryan Babel for the last 28 minutes and he began with two decisive runs, the latter resulting in a cross to Gerrard at the far post which the England international could not keep in.

Mascherano was booked for a foul on Iulian Apostol as Liverpool continued to labour.

Martin Skrtel should have put the home side ahead in the 71st minute but he headed over Aurelio's inswinging corner from five yards. Benitez sent on reserve team striker Daniel Pacheco, making only his second appearance in Europe, for Alberto Aquilani with quarter of an hour remaining.

Mascherano was caught in possession by Apostol, who charged forward 20 yards before curling a shot woefully wide.

With nine minutes to go the breakthrough finally came, with Pacheco playing an important part.

The diminutive Spaniard, possibly the smallest player on the pitch, out-jumped his marker at the far post to head back across goal for Ngog to nod in from five yards.

Gerrard fired just wide in the closing stages as Liverpool pushed for the second which would give them a cushion ahead of the second leg.

Teams :

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Aurelio, Mascherano, Aquilani (Pacheco 75), Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera (Babel 63), Ngog (Lucas 89). Subs not used: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Degen. Booked: Mascherano.

Unirea Urziceni: Arlauskis, Maftei, Galamaz, Bruno Fernandes, Brandan, Paraschiv (Vilana 86), Onofras (Marinescu 75), Paduretu (Rusescu 90), Apostol, Frunza, Bilasco. Subs not used: Tudor, Mehmedovic, Nicu, Bordeanu. Booked: Bruno Fernandes, Brandan.


Source : http://sport.scotsman.com