Wednesday, April 28, 2010

English pair set for Europa semis

Europa League semi-final, second legs
Venue: Craven Cottage & Anfield Date: Thursday, 29 April Kick-off: 2005 BST
Coverage: Fulham v Hamburg Live on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online, with text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles. Live on ITV4.
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid Text commentary on BBC Sport website, live commentary on BBC Radio 5 live. Live on Channel Five.

Fulham's Roy Hodgson and Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez
Hodgson's Fulham and Benitez's Liverpool are both in action on Thursday

Fulham and Liverpool will aim to set up an all-English Europa League final by winning their semi-finals on Thursday.

Fulham host Hamburg having drawn 0-0 in the first leg in Germany while Liverpool trail Atletico Madrid 1-0 after losing in Spain last week.

"We haven't got where we are by luck, it's because of good performances," said Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez added: "We have belief and everyone is ready. We have to show this on the pitch."

Liverpool were beaten courtesy of Diego Forlan's first-half goal in Madrid and will have to overcome Atletico without star striker Fernando Torres, who has a knee injury.

Late decision expected on Zamora

David Ngog (hamstring) and Dirk Kuyt (calf) are also both major doubts leaving Liverpool with a possible shortage of strikers ahead of the key clash at Anfield.

And Benitez is fully aware of the importance of reaching the Europa League final, especially considering Liverpool's early exit in the Champions League and their failings domestically.

His side are currently languishing in seventh place and look set to miss out on a fourth-place and the Champions League place that comes with it - adding extra pressure on the Spanish manager to deliver some success in this competition.

"It will be massive to be in another final so I think everyone will be pushing," said Benitez.

"These games are easy for me in terms of preparing the team talk. It is just to give two or three ideas about the game plan and then leave them to it as they are so focused to succeed.

Each time we drew big teams, people thought we were the underdog and everyone thought it would be the end of the road - but we kept jumping over the hurdles

Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy

"We have some players with experience in very important games. The main thing will be to push from the pitch and the players have to go there and show character, commitment and quality."

Ryan Babel is set to play in his favoured central striker's role as a result of Liverpool's injury problems up front and the Dutchman knows this could be his last chance to show he has a future at Anfield after a season of frustration.

"I know what a striker needs to do and the responsibility they have and I know I can do the best for the team," said the 23-year-old.

"I think I can score goals and provide assists. From my former clubs and national team I know what I can do. Hopefully with the team helping me and me helping the team we can achieve something good."

Fulham's journey to the semi-final - which began last July - has seen Hodgson's men performing against the odds and recording victories over the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk and Italian giants Juventus.

606: DEBATE

And they now find themselves just one game away from a first historic European final appearance and their first final of any kind since the FA Cup in 1975.

But they may have to do it without top scorer Bobby Zamora, who suffered a recurrence of an old Achilles injury in the first leg in Hamburg and who is rated as a "major doubt" for Thursday's clash.

"This would be one of the greatest achievements of our history whereas at Liverpool they are talking about reaching the same final as a consolation," added Hodgson. "That puts it into perspective."

Clint Dempsey - who scored the winning goal against Juventus at Craven Cottage in the second knockout round - would be the most likely to come in should Zamora not be fit while Scandinavians David Elm and Erik Nevland also provide other options.

Since last week's draw in Hamburg, the German outfit have sacked Bruno Labbadia with Ricardo Moniz taking over as caretaker coach.

However, Hodgson does not believe this will make a huge difference to the visitors, who will be hoping to qualify for the final which will be hosted at their HSH Nordbank Arena ground next month.

Fulham captain Danny Murphy has played in nearly all of Fulham's 17 European ties - a journey which began last summer against Lithuanians FK Vetra.

And the 33-year-old former Liverpool midfielder believes his squad have one more Herculean effort in them.

"Each time we drew big teams, people thought we were the underdog and everyone thought it would be the end of the road - but we kept jumping over the hurdles," he said.

"If we can do that one more time and get to the final it will be brilliant because not so many years ago this club was in the lower leagues.

"It was only two seasons ago we needed to win on the last day of the season to stay up, so it has been a fairytale in many ways and the manager deserves credit for that."


Fulham (from): Schwarzer, Konchesky, Hangeland, Pantsil, Hughes, Etuhu, Duff, Murphy, Gera, Davies, Zamora, Dempsey, Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Greening, Dikgacoi, Smalling, Kelly, Elm.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Lucas, Mascherano, Gerrard, Aquilani, Babel, Benayoun, Ngog, Kuyt, Cavalieri, Degen, El Zhar, Pacheco, Ayala, Plessis.

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