Watch Atletico Madrid v Fulham live online here.
Fulham V Atletico Madrid
Europa League final
HSH Nordbank Arena – Hamburg, Germany
19:45 GMT – 12 May 2010
Forget the fact that Liverpool failed to finish in the top four for the first time since 2005. Forget the fact that Michael Owen joined ex-rivals Manchster United at the beginning of the season. You can even forget the fact that Ledley King played three consecutive games in the space of nine days for Spurs at the end of the season.
The real surprise of the 2009/10 season has been Fulham FC’s European form. Somehow manager Roy Hodgson has carved his way through the likes of Juventus and Wolfsburg to leave Fulham facing the biggest game in their history.
Fulham V Atletico Madrid preview
Fulham’s European dream began almost a year ago on July 30 2009. No doubt fans at the time will have expected a swift exit from the competition, but, 11 months on, they face something they may have never dreamed of witnessing, their side in a European final. They scored an impressive nine goals over four qualifying legs, conceding only two to put them through to the group stages where they faced daunting opposition in the likes of Basle and Roma, but managed to finish second behind Roma, which set up the near ‘impossible’ task of beating last year’s holders ‘Shakhtar Donetsk, beating them 2-1 at home, and grinding out a 1-1 draw away from home. When they were placed up against Italian giants Juventus, Fans must have seen the dream ending, especially after losing the first leg away from home 3-1. Things got worse after conceding almost instantly in the return leg, but they battled back to win 4-1. This gave fans the belief that their side could go out and beat anyone on their day, and they did jsut that, beating German outfits Wolfsburg and then Hamburg to set up this historic final.
No one out there could possibly stand up and declare that a win in the final would be beyond Fulham’s control tomorrow night, and it would certainly be a brave man who would rule them out at any point during the match. However their task has been made much harder after the worry surrounding striker Bobby Zamora’s fitness. The Englishman is Fulham’s joint top scorer in Europe, sitting on 6 goals, along with Zoltan Gera, who has had an outstanding season. However without Zamora upfront, Fulham lack a threatening striker. Whilst Erik Nevland has proven he is able to come off the bench and grab the odd goal, I don’t have confidence in him over 90 minutes. The rest of the goals are spattered across the team. Hangeland and Kamara both have two, whilst Duff, Dempsey and Murphy have bagged one each. Others have contributed, but I would suggest that Fulham will need both Zamora and Gera fit if they are to keep their chances up on the night.
Saying that, Hodgson, the typical perfectionist, will have studied every tiny detail of the Atletico side, and will no doubt ensure his players are properly prepared for the match whether Zamora is fit or not.
No doubt Atletico Madrid will be keeping a close eye on Zamora’s fitness, but they will want to concentrate more on their own strikers form. Diego Forlan is top scorer for them on four goals, and youngster Sergio Aguero trails him on two goals. Lower tally’s than Fulhams strikers, but lets not forget many of Fulhams goals have been scored in the qualification stages, of which Atletico did not take part.
Their league form, just like Fulham’s has suffered slightly this year, as they sit mid-table in La Liga, but their cup form cannot be ignored. They scraped past Valencia on away goals, before brilliantly beating Liverpool, again on away form. With all the hype surrounding Fulham’s giantkilling ability, it would be dangerous to ignore the size of the teams that Atletico have beaten.
With league positions average for both sides, their season’s will rest on the result of this match, which is destined to be extremely tight. Don’t expect a goal fest, but it’s likely to be a fiery encounter, and you can follow every minute of it right here on Soccerlens, tomorrow night at 19:45.
Fulham V Atletico Madrid live blog
Watch Fulham v Atletico Madrid live online
You can watch Atletico Madrid take on Fulham live online as well as dozens of other European football games. Read our live Europa League football page for more details.
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