Fulham marched into the Europa League last 32 after Bobby Zamora’s double inspired the Premier League side to a 3-2 win at FC Basel on Wednesday.
Also making the knockout round were Hertha Berlin, Panathinaikos, FC Bruges and FC Copenhagen, with the final four places up for grabs yesterday.
Fulham shrugged off the falling snow to beat the Swiss and become the third English club to make it into the knockout stages, joining Everton and Champions League refugees Liverpool.
Fulham traveled to Switzerland one point behind Basel in third, with AS Roma already having secured top place in Group E.
And with Zamora once again silencing those critics who had begun to question his scoring record, Fulham did the business in style to finish the first round on ten points, one behind Roma.
Zamora had a goal disallowed for offside after 16 minutes but three minutes from the break he had Fulham in front when he steered home Bjorn Helge Riise’s cross with his left foot.
Two minutes later Riise acted as provider again with Zamora this time finishing with his head for his fourth goal in three games.
Basel were back in the game after the hour mark when Alexander Frei’s spotkick, awarded for Chris Smalling’s handball, beat Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
On 77 minutes Zoltan Gera settled manager Roy Hodgson’s nerves, sidefooting the ball in from Stephen Kelly’s pullback.
Marco Streller’s header from a corner into the far post three minutes from time stirred the home fans but Fulham held on.
Hodgson enthused about Zamora’s match-winning contribution.
“Bobby carried on from where he left off in the Premier League,” he said. “I thought he was very unlucky to have a first goal ruled out for offside, and he was a real thorn in the flesh of the Basel defense.”
Alessandro Cerci struck twice with Filippo Scardina adding a another as Roma secured top spot with a 3-0 win at CSKA Sofia.
In Group D, Hertha Berlin qualified with a 1-0 win over table-toppers Sporting Lisbon.
Group F’s final round of matches saw Greek side Panathinaikos join already qualified Galatasaray in the next round after grabbing second place with a 3-0 victory over Dinamo Bucharest.
Belgian’s FC Bruges grabbed the only goal in injury time for a 1-0 win over Toulouse that saw them through as Group J runners-up behind Shakhtar Donetsk.
In Group K Copenhagen won 3-0 at Sparta Prague to finish on 10 points, four behind group winners PSV Eindhoven.
Group L was already decided with Werder Bremen and Athletic Bilbao assured of their places in the knockout round.
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