This is the story of a bittersweet triumph. It took place in eight countries over ten months
and nearly ended with one of the most unlikely footballing success stories of recent times.
This is how Fulham nearly won the Europa League
The 2008-09 Premier League season was a triumph for Roy Hodgson’s Fulham. A year before before,
the club had survived relegation by virtue of their goal difference alone,
and – in response – spent their summer recruiting smartly,
signing forwards Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora from Everton and West Ham respectively,
Zoltan Gera from West Bromwich Albion, and veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from Middlesbrough.
The effect was dramatic. Fulham would beat Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United at
Craven Cottage, and earn creditable draws at Aston Villa and Liverpool away. The result was
a seventh-placed finish, just 34 goals conceded, and a place in the Europa League qualifying round.
And that’s where Fulham’s campaign began: in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, at the end of July.
They’d make short work of FK Vetra, winning both legs 3-0 to progress. On to the playoff round,
which pitted them against Russian side Amkar Perm. Goals from Johnson, Zamora and Clint Dempsey
would build a 3-0 lead, and although they’d concede late in both legs, Fulham held on
to progress 3-2 on aggregate and qualify for the group stage. Their adventure had begun.
They had the perfect guide, too. Manager Roy Hodgson had been appointed as Lawrie
Sanchez’s successor, and he’d begun assembling a team of experienced and responsible players,
who played with a passing style which belied their organized nature.
Hodgson’s CV was unusually eclectic for a British coach.
He’d managed in Sweden and Italy and Denmark among other countries and had
also led the national teams of Finland, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland too.
He has a more continental approach," Norwegian centre-half Brede Hangeland told The Guardian in
2010. "He spends more time on the training ground than other managers over here.”
"He is so meticulous in everything he does," former Fulham coach Dave Beasant
told Dom Fifield. "He probably spends more time preparing the team for what
they have to do when they don't have the ball than what they need to do with it.”
A trip to Bulgaria delivered a solid start in the group,
with Diomansy Kamara tucking home an equaliser against CSKA Sofia to secure a point.
Back in London, down by the Thames, a Danny Murphy winner against Basel would deliver the first win,
and three weeks later, only a 93rd minute equaliser would deny Fulham a win over a
Roma side that included Daniele De Rossi, Philipe Mexes and Jeremy Menez.
A Kamara penalty would give them the lead in the reverse fixture in Rome, before second-half goals
turned the game around, but a Zoltan Gera header was enough to beat CSKA at home and,
in the final matchday, two from Zamora and another from Gera would beat Basel 3-2 in St Jakob Park.
“We’re all going on a European tour” sang the fans from the stands in Switzerland.
And they weren’t coming home yet.
Fulham were a small squad, but that Europa League campaign showed Hodgson’s ability
to stretch it – and to extract the most from players who would almost all reach their peak
under him. Gera enjoyed a fabulous season and, alongside Schwarzer,
was ever present throughout the European run. Hangeland was the totem-like centre-half,
playing next to the unheralded Aaron Hughes, and inside Paul Konchesky
In midfield, veteran orchestrator Danny Murphy was enjoying a new lease
of life, often alongside Dickson Etuhu, a hugely underrated midfielder who had spent
most of his career in the Football League. Clint Dempsey possessed rare class, but in
other attacking positions there were resurgent players who had been cast off by other clubs.
Simon Davies had been sold by Everton, and Damien Duff was allowed to leave Newcastle for just £4m.
Gera and Zamora would each score their third goals of the tournament in the second round first-leg
against Shakhtar Donetsk, securing a 2-1 win which they’d protect with a 1-1 draw in Ukraine.
It created the last-16 tie that Fulham’s run is best remembered
for – and the moment when their Europa League participation was expected to end.
Against Juventus, in Turin, and a 3-1 loss to a side which included David Trezeguet,
Claudio Marchisio and Brazilian playmaker Diego. Still, Fulham didn’t travel back to
London empty-handed, as they returned with Etuhu’s deflected away goal – and it would be crucial.
Not that it seemed that way two minutes into the second-leg,
when Trezeguet drilled in a loose ball to make it 4-1 on aggregate.
But Fulham climbed the mountain: Zamora’s chest-and-hit made it 4-2 before – after
just 27 minutes – Gera wriggled beyond the Juve defence and drew a red card for Fabio Cannavaro.
4-2 became 4-3 when Gera, again, converted Davies’ cut-back and, four minutes after half-time,
after Diego had handled a Duff cross, he would convert a penalty to make it 4-4. Craven Cottage
would have to wait for the coup de grace – and Hollywood actor Hugh Grant was seen fidgeting
nervously as the second half wore on – but it was worth it. With eight minutes left,
Dempsey received the ball on the edge of the box and cut
a perfect lob across and over goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti and into the top-corner.
And the reward for that was the first of two ties against Bundesliga sides.
The first, against Wolfsburg, was won home and away, courtesy of goals from Zamora and Duff.
The Second, in the semi-final, was against HSV, the former European champions,
who were on a path of decline by 2010, but could still boast Ruud van Nistelrooy up front,
Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto at their heart, and a young Jerome Boateng at the back.
Hodgson set Fulham out in a 4-5-1 in the first leg in and would lose lone forward
Zamora to injury just after half-time. Fulham dug in. They wouldn’t record a shot on-target,
but their workrate was exemplified by a tireless Gera performance and, on one of
the few occasions when they did offer a gap, Schwarzer would save well from van Nistelrooy.
Fulham left Hamburg without an away goal and 21 minutes into the second leg,
HSV would find one, with Mladen Petric curling a brilliant free-kick into the top-corner. Hodgson’s
side were in another hole. With time running out and 20 minutes left, Simon Davies juggled
the ball on the edge of the box, one way and then the next, before chopping in the equaliser.
Five minutes later, when the Germans failed to clear from a corner, the ball broke in the six
yard box and – fittingly, having been arguably their player of the tournament – Gera lashed in
to put Fulham in their first ever European final, which would be played in Hamburg of all places.
A final against a decadently talented Atletico Madrid,
who could boast Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero up front,
Portuguese winger Simao and the late Jose Antonio Reyes out wide, and a young David De Gea in goal.
Did Fulham have one more miracle?
Yes, actually. When an Aguero scuff was tucked away by Forlan after half-an-hour,
it looked like Atleti’s class had decisively told. But back came Fulham one more time,
just five minutes later, with Davies drilling Gera’s cross past De Gea at the back-post.
And on the game went. Schwarzer saved from Forlan, De Gea denied Davies. Into extra-time and Fulham
held their own, as the game headed for penalties. Or it would have done, had a late run by Aguero
ended with a whipped cross, a feint Forlan touch, and a 116th minute Atleti winner.
There was nothing left. When full-time in extra-time blew,
it scattered the Fulham players to the floor. Reporting for the BBC that night,
Phil McNulty wrote that Fulham and Hodgson may have left the Nordbank Arena empty-handed,
but rarely has a season without silverware been such an outstanding success.
And he was right:
no matter the outcome, this would be a story to endure – just not with quite the right ending.