alexander madlung's 89th-minute strike in london could prove to be priceless for vfl wolfsburg as they head into the home leg of their uefa europa league quarter-final against fulham fc with a 2-1 deficit to overturn.
* the cottagers looked set for another famous european victory after goals from bobby zamora (59) and damien duff (63) handed them a 2-0 lead, but madlung's header in the closing moments has swung the tie back in the german champions' direction.
penalties
* fulham and wolfsburg have never been involved in a european penalty shoot-out.
bobby zamora and damien duff put fulham in control but alexander madlung's late header gave wolfsburg hope.
fulham fc have the advantage in their uefa europa league quarter-final with vfl wolfsburg but alexander madlung's goal with a minute left ensured the german side left london with hopes intact after a 2-1 first-leg defeat.
this stage of a major european competition was maiden territory for both clubs, and coupled with mutual indifferent domestic form that perhaps explained a tentative first half. however, bobby zamora's fine strike just before the hour was quickly added to by damien duff before madlung's late header gave wolfsburg an away goal for next thursday's second leg.
in a low-key opening christian gentner forced the first save of the night from fulham goalkeeper mark schwarzer on 20 minutes, quickly followed by zoltán gera testing diego benaglio at the other end. zamora, who overcame illness to start, made benaglio palm away an effort from a tight angle while wolfsburg's top scorer, edin džeko, had recovered from a knee injury and set up grafite to blaze over.
zamora and dickson etuhu both came close with headers in sporadic fulham attacks often sparked by paul konchesky down the left. on half-time the hero against juventus, clint dempsey, shot just wide.
džeko had a great chance five minutes after the interval but headed off target from close range and seconds later schwarzer blocked grafite's strong drive. however, just before the hour mark it was fulham who were ahead, gera from the left finding zamora outside the box. after he was given space by duff's dummy run, his shot eluded the diving benaglio.
there was not long to wait for the second, konchesky squaring from the left and zamora laying the ball back for duff to finish on 63 minutes. grafite shot over with ten minutes left and substitute obafemi martins made schwarzer dive and save, but vfl's late rally seemed to be coming to nothing until zvjezdan misimović's cross was headed in by madlung.
bobby zamora's well-taken goal inside the opening 25 seconds rubberstamped the english club's place in the last four for the first time.
in-form striker bobby zamora was once again the hero for fulham fc as his first-minute strike secured a 1-0 victory over german champions vfl wolfsburg, rubberstamping his side's ticket into the uefa europa league semi-finals.
the powerful forward showed guile and composure in abundance to extend the visitors' aggregate margin to 3-1 at the vfl wolfsburg arena with less than 25 seconds on the clock. the hosts' attempts to claw their way back were nullified thereafter by an astute defensive display from roy hodgson's charges, who now face the wolves' domestic rivals, hamburger sv, for a place in the final.
the fans had barely settled into their seats when zoltán gera threaded the ball into the feet of zamora, who, with his back to goal, lost jan šimůnek with a sublime turn before finishing confidently past the helpless diego benaglio. wolfsburg first threatened when christian gentner brought the best out of mark schwarzer at his near post from zvjezdan misimović's cut-back. however, it was fulham who looked the more accomplished in the final third as the home side's renowned attacking triumvirate struggled to find a way through.
in the second period, wolfsburg did their best to increase the pressure but were often forced on to the back foot by fulham's intelligent passing game. marcel schäfer had a stinging left-foot drive from the edge of the box deflected just wide, while edin džeko forced another decent stop from schwarzer with 15 minutes left.
fulham could have easily extended their winning margin, however, with simon davies denied by benaglio from close range before danny murphy's strike was cleared off the line by andrea barzagli. though džeko was desperately unlucky to strike a post late on and grafite's follow-up was cleared off the goalline, the cottagers preserved their lead to book a place in the semi-finals for the first time in their history.
tarihinde ilk kez avrupa kupalarında yarı finale çıkan fulham'ı ben dahil bir çok taraftar desteklemeye başladı. bakalım nereye kadar gidebilecekler. gerçi bu sefer rakipleri şampiyonanın evsahibi hamburg... heyecanla bekliyorum maçı...
yardımcı hakemler: gabor erös (hun), tibor vámos (hun)
4. hakem: mihaly fabian (hun)
çizgi hakemleri: zsolt szabó (hun), istván vad (hun)
wolfsburg: diego benaglio (gk), marcel schäfer, jan šimůnek (dk. 76 réver), josué (c), edin džeko, zvjezdan misimović, peter pekarík (dk. 35 ashkan dejagah), sascha riether, grafite, christian gentner (dk. 61 obafemi martins), andrea barzagli
yedekler: andré lenz (gk), makoto hasebe, fabian johnson, sebastian schindzielorz
teknik direktör: lorenz-günther köstner (ger)
fulham: mark schwarzer (gk), paul konchesky, brede hangeland, chris baird, zoltán gera (dk. 82 erik nevland), danny murphy (c), damien duff, aaron hughes, dickson etuhu, bobby zamora, simon davies (dk. 86 bjørn helge riise)
yedekler: pascal zuberbühler(gk), stephen kelly, chris smalling, jonathan greening, kagisho dikgacoi
teknik direktör: roy hodgson (eng)
goller: (0-1) bobby zamora dk. 1
sari kartlar: dk. 34 edin džeko, dk. 63 ashkan dejagah, dk. 84 josué (c) (wolfsburg) dk. 48 chris baird, dk. 63 paul konchesky (fulham)
