The UEFA Europa League resumed its group stage matches on Thursday, October 22, 2009. Fulham, one of two English Premier League Clubs, hosted Italian Serie A side AS Roma at the Craven Cottage in one of the matches. Here’s a recap of the match along with video highlights.
Fulham draws with AS Roma 1-1 – Video Highlights
The match was fairly even as neither side was dominating. Fulham would grab the lead in the first half with a 24th minute goal from Brede Hangeland. Hangeland scored on a header from a corner kick as the home side would lead 1-0 at halftime.
As the second half started, Roma began to get most of the chances and play more aggressive. Fulham played conservative and relied on their defensive or a counterattack to get their chances. Roma really began to put the pressure on and it seemed they were just on the edge of scoring a goal to level the match. The Italian club would earn their chance in the 77th minute.
Roma player John Arne Riise was taken down in a box and given a penalty. Stephen Kelly was given a red card for the foul in the box as Fulham would play with 10 men for the final 15 or so minutes. Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was tested and came through with a save on the penalty taken by Jeremy Menez to preserve their 1-0 lead.
Fulham took no chances with 10 men and had everyone back to play defense. Roma would get chances and finally it would pay off.
A corner kick would go to Marco Andreolli who chested it down to his feet and scored off a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced it. It was well deserved as Roma dominated possession and chances in the 2nd half. Schwarzer had no real chance to save the shot as it was a fantastic individual effort. The goal came in stoppage time and shocked the crowd at the Cottage.
Fulham were only a few moments from getting a 1-0 win but couldn’t hold off Roma as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
| SCORING SUMMARY | |
| Fulham | AS Roma |
| Brede Hangeland (24) | Jeremy Menez (pen miss 79) |
| Marco Andreolli (90) | |
| MATCH STATS | ||
| Fulham | AS Roma | |
| Shots (on Goal) | 8(7) | 16(8) |
| Fouls | 17 | 9 |
| Corner Kicks | 11 | 8 |
| Offsides | 9 | 4 |
| Time of Possession | 50% | 50% |
| Yellow Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 0 |
| Saves | 4 | 4 |
