By Ollie Irish
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What to say? Fulham journeyed so far, and for so long (since July 2009), and came up millimetres short – how desperately sad for Roy Hodgson and co. Atletico Madrid were the better side on the night, however, with Diego Forlan and Kun Aguero (a brilliantly well-balanced pair) the clear difference between two sides of similar ability.
Is the final the worst match of all to lose? Probably, but then for Fulham fans the memory of famous wins against Shakhtar and Juventus and Hamburg will never be erased. What a fantastic campaign it has been.
With a neutral hat on, I’m happy for Atleti too – living in the giant shadow of Real can’t be easy, and it’s good to see them emerge in such triumphant fashion. You could really see how much it meant to Dr. House and his players, not to mention their ecstatic fans.
To end on a bitter note, one might argue that the seeds of Fulham’s defeat were planted somewhat in the unfair, patronising treatment of Diego Forlan by the English media when he was at Man Utd. Forlan was never given a fair shot in his time at United, and you know there was an element of “I’ll show those bastards” in his superb performances against Liverpool and then the Cottagers. And who can blame him? I bet his revenge tastes damn fine.