Fairytale Fulham through to Europa League final, face Atletico Madrid

Fulham, in the fourth tier of English soccer just 13 years ago, completed their fairytale run to the Europa League final with a 2-1 win over Hamburg SV at Craven Cottage on Thursday.

Well-taken late goals in the semifinal second leg from Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera on 69 and 76 minutes sealed a 2-1 aggregate win and a place in the May 12 final in Hamburg.

Earlier, Croatian striker Mladen Petric stunned the home side with a vicious 30m free kick after 22 minutes that Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer could only watch as it sailed into his net.

Fulham will play Atletico Madrid, who edged past Liverpool after extra time in the other semifinal second leg at Anfield on the away goals rule, in the final.

"It just keeps getting better, doesn't it," captain Danny Murphy told ITV. "It would have been easy to think this was the end of the journey, but I thought the spirit we showed in the second half was tremendous.

"Look what it means to everyone — it's amazing," Murphy said as the London club's fans went wild with delight. "We have come a long way."

Matchwinner Gera said: "That was the most important goal I've ever scored, so I'm very happy."

Fulham also beat Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg, Italian giants Juventus, and 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk earlier in the competition.