Hodgson 'on top of the world'

Cottagers boss delighted with historic win

By James Riach   Last updated: 19th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hodgson 'on top of the world'

Hodgson: On top of the world

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Fulham manager Roy Hodgson admitted to feeling on top of the world after his side's remarkable Europa League win over Juventus.

The Cottagers stunned the Old Lady on the banks of the Thames in West London with an unlikely 4-1 victory, putting them through to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history after a 5-4 aggregate win.

Coming into the game at Craven Cottage 3-1 down following a defeat in Turin last week, Fulham got off to a terrible start as David Trezeguet put the away side in front after two minutes.

But Hodgson's men responded with a goal from the excellent Bobby Zamora, before Fabio Cannavaro was sent off for a tug on Zoltan Gera.

Gera then scored before half-time and added to his tally from the penalty spot after the break, with Clint Dempsey securing the triumph with a sublime finish before Jonathan Zebina saw red late on.

And Hodgson was over the moon after the stunning comeback.

"I'm on top of the world," he said. "I don't know if it is the biggest night in the club's history but it must come close.

"I was very impressed with how they came back. We couldn't have had a worse start.

"We went behind to a simple goal which made an uphill task even steeper but even from that point the team started to play well and the crowd got behind us and even at half-time I thought we were looking good to win the game.

Never impossible

"It was never going to be impossible to turn it around and luckily that has happened.

"To get to the quarter-final of this competition is extremely good because we played our first match at the end of July and we will still be playing in this competition next month.

"When I reached the final (as manager of Inter Milan) our European campaign was nowhere near as long as this one has been, I think it encompassed 12 games including a two-legged final.

"By the end of the next match we'll have played 16 games now and I think it is a remarkable achievement that the boys have done so well."

Juventus manager Alberto Zaccheroni, meanwhile, was unhappy with the sending off of Cannavaro and thinks it changed the game.

"We are disappointed with the result," he said.

"We feared Fulham and they played well but as soon as we went down to 10 men we struggled.

"I have seen the replay of the incident and I think the referee was too strict."

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