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'I'll cherish it for the rest of my life' - Stephen Kelly on Fulham's Juventus stunner

Stephen Kelly joined us on the ten-year anniversary of Fulham's run to the Europa League final ag...



Soccer

'I'll cherish it for the rest of my life' - Stephen Kelly on Fulham's Juventus stunner

Stephen Kelly joined us on the ten-year anniversary of Fulham's run to the Europa League final against Atletico Madrid, and the beautiful comeback against Juventus.

It was a glorious year for Fulham, who played 63 competitive matches from July 2009 to May 2010, under the guidance of Roy 'The Boy' Hodgson.

But it wasn't Atleti, or even Juventus, that was Kelly's toughest match of the Europa League campaign.

"Without a shadow of a doubt, Shakhtar Donetsk was the toughest game we had - I don't think we touched the ball for 90 minutes," said Kelly.

"It was unbelievable, the players they had at their disposal. Willian was there, I was playing left-back over there and we were under the cosh for the whole time.

"We defended for our lives and they were probably walking off thinking 'how have we not won that?'

"But we performed really well and had a great structure and shape about us."

But it was one of European football's more fragrant stadia that Kelly remembers fondly.

"I wasn't expecting to get much, because the side they put out was very strong," he said of his visit to Juventus' Stadio Delle Alpi.

Fulham

Neutrals may have been forgiven for thinking that this was a foregone conclusion - even with an away goal to make it a 3-1 deficit.

But there is nothing quite like West London, and it was a night that has seen banners made and songs written that has etched onto Kelly's memory.

In a remarkable turn of events, Fulham found themselves 4-1 up against Juve at home, with the fourth a stunning strike from Clint Dempsey.

"For any Fulham fan or player, most will say that that is the game that they will most remember.

"When you go back to the Cottage now, there are pictures of that scoreboard up around the changing room and stadium.

"The magnitude of just what Juventus is as a club, such a behemoth of a side, the players that played for them - Del Piero and Cannavaro are World Cup winners!

"When I was playing computer games, you would pick Juventus because they had Zidane and Nedved - they are a huge, huge club and no one would have given Fulham a chance going into that keg.

"To come back in the way that we did - it was just an amazing experience and something that we will cherish and remember for the rest of our lives."

Stephen Kelly was talking to OTB as part of our Champions League Best Moment series, in association with Virgin Media Sport  #WeFreeSport

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