Audacious Dempsey stuns Juventus

Europa League

Clint Dempsey admitted his gamble paid off after his stunning strike earned Fulham a 4-1 win over Juventus to send the Cottagers into the last eight of the Europa League.

Roy Hodgson's side had looked down and out after an early goal by David Trezeguet had stretched the Italians' aggregate lead to 4-1.

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However, Bobby Zamora cancelled Juventus's lead on the night and Zoltan Gera struck twice before American Dempsey clipped an audacious long-range chip which eluded goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti and went into the top-left corner to earn the west London side a famous 5-4 aggregate win.

The Italians experienced a miserable night which was compounded by the dismissals of Fabio Cannavaro and Jonathan Zebina.

"I just thought, what the heck and tried to put it in the far post and it went in," said Dempsey.

"Nine times out of 10 you won't make it, but sometimes you've got to take a risk.

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"It's great, we showed a lot of heart and character to fight back but we are in the next round."

Manager Hodgson admitted he especially enjoyed the victory given his former involvement with Inter Milan, saying: "I've tried to like them but beating Juventus is something special on all occasions."

He also paid tribute to his team's resilience after their early setback, adding: "We tried to give them a bigger lift by conceding a goal after one minute 40 seconds or something but I was really impressed by how the players put that behind them and carried on playing.

"I still thought we could win the game.

"When Bobby equalised and we got the second I thought, who knows? We could do something if we played as well in the second half and that is what happened."

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Liverpool kept alive their hopes of silverware this season with a 3-0 victory over Lille at Anfield to win their Europa League last-16 tie 3-1 on aggregate.

Captain Steven Gerrard's ninth-minute penalty gave them the ideal start after Lucas Leiva had been fouled.

Fernando Torres then struck twice in the second half – his first European goals for more than 11 months – to put his side into the quarter-finals.

Liverpool play away to Premier League champions Manchester United on Sunday, and Gerrard said: "It was vital this game didn't go to extra-time. We know how difficult it (Sunday) is going to be. We'll enjoy tonight and look forward to Sunday."