Juve ease past Cottagers

David Trezeguet scored the decisive goal as Juventus powered to a 3-1 first-leg victory over Fulham.

Juve dominate to leave Cottagers with a mountain to climb

David Trezeguet scored the decisive goal as Juventus demonstrated their Euopean pedigree to power to a 3-1 first leg victory over Fulham in their Europa League round of 16 clash at the Stadio Olimpico. Fulham were second best for most of the first half and found themselves 2-0 down thanks to goals from Nicola Legrottaglie and Jonathan Zebina. A deflected goal from Dickson Etuhu gave the Cottagers an undeserved foothold in the game, but Trezeguet struck on the stroke of half-time to restore Juve's two-goal advantage. Roy Hodgson's men tried to find another vital away goal in the second period, but the Italian side kept them at bay and will carry a significant advantage ahead of the second leg next week. Hodgson handed Paul Konchesky his first start in almost two months in the place of cup-tied Nicky Shorey while Clint Dempsey, who picked up a serious knee injury in January, was a surprise inclusion on the substitutes' bench. Alberto Zaccheroni made four changes to the Juventus side that beat Fiorentina last weekend, among them World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso. Hodgson admitted before kick-off his side were playing one of the biggest matches in the club's history and they soon looked out of their depth against a fluent Juve side dripping with class. The Old Lady, currently fifth in Serie A, began with a fluid passing game and Mark Schwarzer soon found his goal under attack when he reacted well to tip Trezeguet's goal-bound strike around his left hand post.

Power

The Australian was beaten seconds later though as Legrottaglie found his way through a packed penalty box to power a close range header past the keeper from the resulting corner. The Bianconeri continued to threaten the Cottagers' box and the front three of Antonio Candreva, Diego and Trezeguet were proving to be too much of a handful for the Fulham midfield, who struggled to get possession. Zebina made it 2-0 when he beat two Fulham players, cut in off the right and fired an 18-yard shot past Schwarzer and off the post into the net. Fulham top scorer Bobby Zamora looked frustrated and isolated up front but he won the free-kick that put the Cottagers momentarily back in the tie. Davies whipped a free-kick on the edge of the box after a foul on the former Spurs hitman and the ball fell to Etuhu who slotted the ball past an off-balance Alex Manninger via a deflection. Sensing an equaliser, the travelling fans urged on Hodgson's men and Brede Hangeland and Zoltan Gera were guilty of firing close-range efforts straight at Manninger. Schwarzer then had to pull off a fantastic one-handed save but Juve went 3-1 ahead when Trezeguet fired past the Fulham stopper on the stroke of half-time after his original shot smacked against the woodwork. Aaron Hughes, who was captaining the side in the absence of Danny Murphy, pulled off a crucial challenge on Trezeguet inside the box at the start of the second half as Juve looked for a fourth.

Creativity

Hodgson's side lacked creativity and the Fulham boss looked for fresh impetus from Dempsey, who came on for Davies to make his first appearance since hobbling off against Blackburn in January. A deliberate handball brought a booking for Legrottaglie and gave Fulham a free-kick from 20 yards out but Damien Duff's curling cross was expertly cut out by Cannavaro. Former Liverpool player Mohamed Sissoko replaced the solid Christian Poulsen in midfield with 15 minutes left. Zamora won a corner for the Cottagers with eight minutes left but Jonathan Greening's dangerous cross was cut out by substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta. Dempsey fired Fulham's last meaningful effort wide to ensure that the first meeting between the two sides ended in a 3-1 defeat, leaving Hodgson's men with much work to do in the second leg next Thursday.

Juventus	Team Statistics	Fulham
3	Goals	1
3	1st Half Goals	1
6	Shots on Target	5
9	Shots off Target	3
0	Blocked Shots	1
4	Corners	4
16	Fouls	14
4	Offsides	9
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
79.6	Passing Success	81.5
14	Tackles	14
78.6	Tackles Success	57.1
49.8	Possession	50.2
52.2	Territorial Advantage	47.8