Fabulous Fulham sink Juve

Gera: Celebrates with Etuhu

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Fulham advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League after a superb performance saw them defy the odds to beat Juventus in one of the greatest nights in the club's history.

Trailing 3-1 after the first leg in Turin, going into the game at Craven Cottage Roy Hodgson's men knew they were up against it, and they started in the worst possible fashion as David Trezeguet fired the away side in front after just two minutes.

But Fulham's heads did not drop and they equalised when the fantastic Bobby Zamora chested a cross down and fired past Juve's third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti on nine minutes.

The game changed soon later when Fabio Cannavaro was sent off for a tug on Zoltan Gera, and the Hungarian put Fulham in front on 39 minutes - firing into the net from close range.

Gera scored from the penalty spot four minutes after the break and Clint Dempsey sealed the win with a sublime chip with just eight minutes of normal time remaining - the Italians ended with no dignity and finished the game with nine men as Jonathan Zebina saw red late on.

Brede Hangeland passed a fitness test to line up at the heart of Fulham's defence as they looked to overturn the deficit from the first leg.

The Norway defender had been struggling with a chest injury but made the Cottagers' starting XI along with Zoltan Gera, Damien Duff and Dickson Etuhu as Hodgson's side looked to progress to the last eight of the competition for the first time.

Third-choice Chimenti, 39, started in goal for Juventus but there was no place for Alessandro del Piero in Alberto Zaccheroni's team.

Bad start

Any hopes of the Cottagers gaining a foothold in the match looked slim when

David Trezeguet gave Juve the lead in the second minute.

Hasan Salihamidzic's curling cross found Diego, who shrugged off Stephen Kelly and Hangeland to lay the ball off to the French striker, who neatly beat Mark Schwarzer.

The visitors' lead lasted just seven minutes, though, thanks to Zamora's 16th of the season.

The former Spurs striker vowed on Wednesday that he could get the better of Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro and he did just that by overpowering the World Cup winner to chest down Paul Konchesky's cross before beating Chimenti with a volley.

Fulham began to take control and Cannavaro had to be quick to beat Zamora to the ball inside the six-yard box 17 minutes in.

The game was being played at an intense pace and took a dramatic twist in the 27th minute when Cannavaro was sent off for colliding with Gera after the

Hungarian was played through by Zamora.

It was a decision that incensed the Juve team and caused Zaccheroni to replace forward Antonio Candreva with Zdenek Grygera.

Veteran keeper Chimenti showed no sign of his age from Zamora's resulting free-kick as he pulled off a flying one-handed save to deny the 29-year-old.

The Cottagers then hit the woodwork twice within a minute as they piled on the pressure.

First Simon Davies' wicked free-kick cannoned back off the bar before Etuhu's point-blank header struck a post.

Juve seemed to be buckling under the pressure and found themselves 2-1 down when Gera fired into the roof of Chimenti's net after an incisive pull-back from Davies in the box to make it 3-4 on aggregate at half-time.

Buoyed by their first-half performance, Fulham continued to pile on the pressure after the break and it soon paid off when Diego was adjudged to have handled Duff's cross in his own box.

Referee Bjorn Kuipers booked the Juve forward and pointed to the spot and Gera held his nerve to beat Chimenti to level the scores on aggregate.

Defensive change

If the scores remained the same, the game would go to extra time and Zaccheroni decided to bring on Paolo de Ceglie for Camoranesi to shore up his defence and deny Fulham a fourth.

Diego's curling cross then had to be cut out by Kelly inside the box as the Bianconeri looked for a second away goal that would all but kill the tie.

Gera thought Fulham should have had a second penalty on the hour when he went down under pressure from De Ceglie and Grygera but referee Kuipers waved play on.

Hodgson, sensing that one more goal would win it, replaced Kelly with forward Dempsey and pushed Gera out to his natural position on the left wing.

The American was soon in the thick of the action as his pass set up Duff but the former Chelsea winger's pull-back failed to find a Fulham player in the box.

Dempsey drew a brilliant save from Chimenti with a free header from seven yards out.

Chimenti then awkwardly punched Gera's shot away as Fulham stepped up their hunt for a winner

Juventus' own attempts to find a winner came mainly from counter-attacks, but in truth the one-man disadvantage was clear.

Dempsey then sent the Craven Cottage crowd into raptures with his 83rd-minute strike.

The American took advantage of some slack defending from Zebina to drift a beautifully crafted chip past Chimenti.

Juventus were reduced to nine men when Zebina was sent off for lashing out at Duff and Fulham played keep-ball for the remainder of the match to round off a memorable night for the West London club.