This time the miracle of Craven Cottage occurred for the visitors.
American midfielder Clint Dempsey and Fulham were a minute away from closing out a crucial 2-0 first leg victory in the Europe Cup quarterfinals on Thursday, but reigning German champions Wolfsburg got a critical away goal in the 89th minute to give them hope for the second leg, down 2-1.
Fulham’s Bobby Zamora and Damien Duff scored goals within five minutes of each other but Alexander Madlung headed home at the death for Wolfsburg. Dempsey played the full 90 minutes for the Cottagers and narrowly missed scoring on two opportunities in the first half.
Another German club, Hamburg, also registered a 2-1 home win over Belgians Standard Liege. Hamburg, which plays host to the Europa League final on May 12, fell behind in the 31st minute. A Mladen Petrić penalty kick and Ruud van Nistelrooy strike in the last four minutes of the first half overturned the result for the hosts. Dieudonne Mbokani, who headed home Standard’s first goal, also hit the crossbar on a header in the 65th minute for the best chance of the second half.
Portuguese league leaders Benfica got two second-half penalty kick goals from Paraguayan international Oscar Cardozo to defeat Liverpool 2-1. The EPL club went ahead on a Daniel Agger back heel in the ninth minute, but played with 10 men after Ryan Babel was ejected in the 30th minute and never recovered at the Stadium of Light.
The all-Spanish quarterfinal finished 2-2 in Valencia as Atlético Madrid came away with two valuable away goals. Diego Forlán and Antonio López gave the visiting Atlético 1-0 and 2-1 leads but Valencia answered through Manuel Fernandes and David Villa, whose equalizing goal came eight minutes from time.
The quarterfinal second legs take place next Thursday.
In other news from Europe, two major injuries suffered in the UEFA Champions League earlier this week were officially confirmed on Thursday.
Manchester United revealed that Wayne Rooney did suffer damage to the ligaments in his ankle according to his club. The fact that the reigning EPL champs did not speculate on a time frame for his return does not bode well.
It was also confirmed that Arsenal have lost their captain for the rest of the year. Cesc FÃ bregas suffered a broken lower right fibula and will miss a minimum of six weeks. His World Cup participation is in doubt.
