Aletico Madrid's players celebrate after winning the UEFA Europa LeagueDiego Forlan led Atletico to a 2-1 extra time win over English rivals Fulham in the first ever Europa League final, held at Hamburg Arena in Germany.The Spaniards created the first big chance of the game in the 12th minute, after Dany Murphy’s careless back pass found Atletico’s Sergio Agüero.
The Argentine wasted no time in delivering the ball to Forlan in the English box, but an effort by the Uruguayan striker, who was just 10 meters away from the target, ended up hitting the post.
Fulham completely gave the initiative away to their rivals, so Forlan only had to wait for another chance to make up for the wasted opportunity… and he got one 19 minutes later. Agüero failed to execute his shot as he wanted, but the ball bounced to the Uruguayan, who had little problems in beating Fulham’s veteran keeper Mark Schwarzer, 1-0.
 Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan forward Diego Forlan celebrates scoring the winning goal (AFP Photo / Adrian Dennis) |
It seemed Quique Sanchez Flores’ men would go on to increase their lead, but the Londoners came up with a very fast equalizer, which contradicted the course of play.
Fulham’s first dangerous attack saw the ball in Atletico’s net. The appearance of Bobby Zamora caused panic in the Spanish box, which resulted in Simon Davies scoring from close range after Zoltan Gera’s cross in the 37th minute, tying at 1-1.
Atletico locked Roy Hodgson’s charges on their part of the field in the remaining minutes of the half, delivering five corners in a row, but the score remained unchanged.
And it didn’t change in the second half, forcing the teams to spend 30 more minutes of extra time.
The only memorable event of the second 45 minutes was the appearance of Clint Dempsey in Fulham. He replaced Zamora, who was playing despite an injury in the 56th minute, becoming the first ever American in a major European final.
The game lacked dangerous opportunities and looked destined to be decided in a penalty shootout, when Atletico’s attacking duo struck again, just four minutes from the whistle.
The game lacked dangerous opportunities and looked destined to be decided in a penalty shootout, when Atletico’s attacking duo struck again, just four minutes from the whistle.
Aguero collected the ball at the goal line, turned around and found Forlan with a low cross in the middle of Fulham’s box. The Uruguayan delivered just the right touch, with a small deflection off the defender leaving Schwarzer no chance, ending it at 2-1.
It was his sixth goal in the competition.
Fulham couldn’t organize any serious pressure on their rivals in the remainig minutes, Atletico Madrid became the first-ever Europa League winners.
They last won a major European tournament in the 1973-74 season, putting their hands on the Cup Winners Cup.
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