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Atletico Madrid defeats Fulham, claims Europa League

Diego Forlan 1 (Reuters)

By FRANCO PANIZO

It took 14 years, but Atletico Madrid ended its drought of being without a major trophy, beating Fulham 2-1 in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

A pair of Diego Forlan goals were enough to edge Atletico past Fulham in extra time. Forlan's winner, which came four minutes from time and penalty kicks, came off a flick that deflected off Fulham defender Brede Hangeland before going in, giving Atletico its first major trophy since 1996.

The Uruguayan striker also opened the scoring by easily slotting home from close range after teammate Sergio "Kun" Aguero mis-hit a shot in the 32nd. Simon Davies netted the equalizer for Fulham shortly after on a thunderous right-footed volley. 

The 2-1 result saw Fulham attacker Clint Dempsey become the first American to play in a major European final. Dempsey came off the bench in the 55th minute.

If you missed the match or want to see the goals again, here they are:

What do you think of Atletico winning the Europa League? Sad to see Dempsey and Fulham lose? Is Forlan ready to go on a tear in the World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I tried to avoid the score of the Spain vs. USA game last year, but made the mistake of checking … marketwatch.com. I avoided sports websites, “overall” news websites, but incorrectly thought a business news site was safe … wrong.

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  2. Sorry, as much as I root for the USMNT and Clint in that role, Fulham got seriously outplayed. They put up a brave front and had some very hot counters, but the better team won.

    Not that I’m biased or anything.

    09 – 10 Trophy count:
    Real: 0
    Atleti: 1

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  3. I don’t think Fulham were outclassed at all. It was a tight, back and forth match. The difference ended up being in the strikers: Nevland was impotent, Dempsey was as good as can be and Zamora was solid even with his injury (if he could have stayed on with Dempsey it would have been a diff. outcome). Forlan and Aguero were excellent, esp. on the last goal with their patience and poise. Well done Fulham regardless.

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  4. I can’t cheer for Mexico. I just don’t have it in me. But I did just watch my college team draw with the Mexican U21.

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  5. If you need a loss in a tourney to motivate you for the WORLD CUP, you have problems. Its the frickin world cup man.

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  6. Etuhu for man of the match, are you nuts. He had an alright second half but mostly shocking passing and possesion. Schwartzer (spelling?) is my pick but whatever

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  7. Anyone see this as the fire that will light Dempsey’s performance in the WC? I mean he has lost 2 chances at a trophy so maybe 3rd time’s the charm?

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  8. To the second comment. We should root for Mexico and the other CONCACAF teams in the group stages. Its our region, if MX has to go, lets have it be USA that knocks them out.

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  9. at 7:06 you post that? You’re kidding right?

    Stay off the internet if you don’t want spoilers.

    It’s really cool the way that most of us folks figure out how to avoid scores if we want to watch a game.

    Did you go to soccernet? BBC? did you leave deeply stupid comments there too?

    Tool

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  10. I thought Etuhu wasn’t that great. Always lost posession, but did his fair share of winning balls. Forlan was offside on the first goal. Glad to see Fulham play their game. It was a great run to the final.

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  11. Fulham were simply outclassed, but a good European final for the contrasting styles of play. Almost like a USMNT game with a more skilfull and tactically sophisticated side trying to break down a spirited, perhaps athletic, certainly desperate defense. Forlan was dominant for Madrid, Etuhu was man of the match for the Cottagers, and Dempsey’s play doesn’t give me a lot of confidence if asked to take a striker’s slot for the US. We need pace at the second forward position, and now that Davies has been excluded I don’t know where it’s going to come from. Fulham were lucky to hang on as long as they did.

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  12. i thought clint did well considering the poor performance from nevland. dempsey was very creative with his passes and his runs, but nevland either lost the ball right when he got it or refused to hit dempsey every time he made a good run. dempsey and zamora would have been much more effective together

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  13. If we had seen Zamora/Dempsey in the 2nd half instead of Dempsey/Nevland (Zamora was forced off by his achilles problem 10 minutes into the 2nd half) Fulham could well have poached a victory.

    Problem is Clint can flick it on and turn but he can’t hold up like Zamora can, giving the deep Fulham midfield time to catch up to play.

    Dempsey was asked to do a bit much fitting into Zamora’s role in a 4-5-1 (which was the case until Hodgeson brought on Nevland for Duff and switched to 4-4-2)

    I’m sure Duff and Zamora were both playing through outrageous pain, and fair play to Fulham for taking it as far as they did, given they had about 5-10% of chances.

    Unlucky deflection on the game winning goal, but Fulham had already used up all of their luck on earlier chances off the post and just wide.

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  14. Dempsey played pretty well. Held the ball up extremely well and earned countless free kicks in the second overtime period.

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  15. and France.
    Clint played well in my opinion. It seemed like his striking partner was always loosing the ball immediately after Dempsey struggled to earn a foul or head it up to him.

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  16. Feel bad for Clint second time he’s come so close to winning a major trophy.

    I hope Forlan at least tears it up against Mexico

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