Roy Hodgson hails momentous victory
Friday, 19 March 2010 07:54Fulham manager Roy Hodgson believes last night's 4-1 hammering of Juventus will go down as one of the most memorable moments in the club's history.
The Cottagers go into today's draw for the quarter-finals of the Europa League having overcome a 3-1 first-leg deficit to beat one of football's biggest heavyweights 5-4 on aggregate.
It is by far the club's biggest achievement in Europe, with their previous best a third-round UEFA Cup appearance which came via qualification from the Intertoto Cup in 2002.
The 62-year-old Hodgson, who usually plays down his side's achievements, chose instead to revel in Fulham's victory, which could see them drawn against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Valencia or Liverpool when the draw is made this afternoon.
'I'm on top of the world,' the delighted Fulham boss said. 'I don't know if it is the biggest night in the club's history but it must come close.
'By the end of the next match we'll have played 16 games in this competition and I think it is a remarkable achievement that the boys have done so well.'
The win, which came courtesy of goals from Bobby Zamora, Clint Dempsey and two from Zoltan Gera, was even more special given that the Cottagers went 1-0 down within two minutes at a packed Craven Cottage.
Juventus never recovered from the first-half dismissal of defender Fabio Cannavaro, though, and looked well off the pace against a Fulham side for whom the likes of Zamora, Simon Davies and Gera excelled.
Dempsey's audacious chip rounded off the victory and Hodgson believes his side showed great character to come from behind for a famous victory.
'I was very impressed with how they came back," said the former Inter Milan boss, who takes his side to Manchester City on Sunday. 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.
'Even at half-time I thought we were looking good to win the game.
'It was never going to be impossible to turn it around and luckily that has happened.'
