Just go to any website that deals with Prem league transfers. Transfermkt for example. They've spent a lot and pay a lot more than the other small clubs around them. That's why they are so knee deep in debt - only kept afloat by Mr. Conspiracy himself.

Got a real life LOL for that. Good job. I'm so happy.

LATEST: Ashington 1-1 South Shields, gone to extra time

SHIELDS WIN ON PENALTIES!!!!!

How did Atletico miss that

At eltico have been the better team so far but credit to Fulham, they're doing well to stay in it, 1-1 at half time

Extra time is the result. Fulham have defended well against an Atletico siege

its the diving and complacent but skillful spaniards against the old british steel, hughes and hangerland and especially baird have been quality tonight, come on fulham!

2-1, Forlan

Massive deflection from hangeland

Shame for Fulham but got to be sneakily happy that Duff is on the losing side. Cunt.

TBH Ive not really paid much attention to the fact that snivelling little git is playing for them. I just feel so sorry for Fulham and Roy Hodgson. At least though they can be proud of what they've done, its a monumental achievement to reach any european final.

And to think of the teams they beat on the way fair and square Shakhtar Donetsk (the holders), Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg, all top quality sides with massive budgets and (on paper) much better squads.

couldn't hate the diving pre-madonna whingers of forlan and augero any more, roy hodgson and fulham deserved that trophy. why can't british teams win the uefa cup final? rangers, boro, celtic and now fulham, gutted for them.

It wasn't massive. It was pretty small but I know what you mean by massive. Massive enough to take it past Schwarzer.

But to be fair to Fulham, they've done brilliantly this season just as Boro did a few seasons ago. And all their fans should be proud of them and as a Toon fan I'm even proud of them. They've been wonderful ambassadors to English football this season and good luck to them for next season. I'll be rooting for them as long as it's not against us.

Gutted for Fulham. Always liked them and really wanted them to win.

I wish they'd come up against the Diego Forlan who once played for Man United instead.

Fulham should be proud of what they have done in Europe this season.
Unlucky tonight.

Agreed, would also have been pretty depressing to see Fulham winning a trophy

Fair play to them for the run but think Athletico desreved it - Fulham didnt really offer anything once Zamora went off.

How a team that has Zamora as 1st choice striker and Erik Nevland as backup gets to the final is beyond me

I think Zamora showed again last night his all round ability, people need to forget his old reputation and judge him on how he's playing, he held the ball up brilliantly last night and his knock on's and flicks created chances nearly every time, it's unlucky he has to pull out of the WC squad because of injury because he's a much better all round player than heksey.
and as a response to BBT last comment ^ it shows how good a manger roy hodgson is that the likes of gera and zamora can prove to be a quality partnership against teams like juventus, woflsburg etc.
but I think he's worked wonders with the defence aaron hughes and hangerlaand are one of the best CB partnerships in england, don't think athletico madrid won one single header in the fulham box last night. And the likes of chris baird and dikson euthu have turned into real quality players aswell. hopefully they give hodgson a bit of money in the summer because the only missing link is a pacy striker imo.

How the hell did Fulham get so far in this competition?
I thought they were crap.
A bunch of journeymen trying to play like Barca with predictable results.
Atletico weren't so great either, but at least they had a couple of class players in Forlán and Agüero who ran rings around Fulham's defence.
I find it strange in the age of ping-pong football where players aren't allowed to take two steps with the ball before they pass it, that the two acknowledged best players in the world, Ronaldo & Messi are known for what?
Could it be running with the ball, taking on players, dribbling - surely not?

I think Zamora has some decent qualities but I dont think a half decent season suddenly makes him a world beater or an international player with all his previous shite seasons forgotton.

Hes a half decent player who fits into Fulhams style of play well but an international player I dont think he is.

As for my comment about the team, that was my point really that Hodgson has done a fantastic job in getting that team to the final although in the end that little lack of quality told for me. Hard work and graft can only get you so far.

I like Roy Hodgson and hes done a great job but I can actually see them doing really shit next season on the back of having such a good season this year.

I find this entire comment strange!!

Isn't the fact they do what they do the reason WHY they're the best in the world? Or could Nzonzi and Dunn do exactly the same, if only they were allowed to dribble?

Exactly, what it tells you is that there's so little space and so much pressure on the ball that you have to be a brilliant player to be able to hold onto the ball for any length of time.

....and even then Mourinho can organise his team to mark them out of the game.

Will Ronaldo and Messi shine this Summer or will the pragmatists win - again

My beef is that even in situations where there is no pressure and they could easily take it forward 10 or 20 yards they still want to pass the ball at the earliest opportunity - very often to players who are under pressure and have no choice but to pass it straight back!

Yes, but doing so pulls defenders out of position. There's no point running with the ball for 20 yards if you then just get surrounded by defenders and have to turn back, pass the ball back to your central defender who has no choice but to lump it forward.

Should someone tell Gutierrez this

A bit harsh, Gutierrez does try to take men on - and has been fairly successful at doing that in the championship at least. It's his crossing that is a much bigger problem. You need a combination of strategies, being able to run with the ball on occasions is good, but if that's all you do then - unless you've got some really good players in your team - it's easy to defend against. Playing a passing game also depends on having a mobile central midfield who will be able to find space and can link up play well.

Gutierrez regularly has an option right in front of him to pass to and he chooses to take on another player. He's exciting to watch and can do great things but not often enough and he really needs to simplify his play and get his head up mre often to see what's going in front of him. I love him being in my team but he has the talent to do more.

dull game so far, and since when were bayern munich stripes?

Mourinho is class. 2 Champs League, UEFA Cup, won the domestic league in 3 different countries, plenty of domestic cups and he's still relatively young.

he sure is 'The Special One'

True, the man simply can do no wrong

It was a boring one sided final though, disappointing for the neutral like myself

Nearly fell asleep watching that last night. Bayern were so predictable, just get it to Robben and see what he could do.

Blackpool and Cardiff served up the more entertaining game (well, the first half at least).

Barcelona must have been kicking themselves watching that last night.

Dont think it was that boring myself. I love watching games like the Blackpool Cardiff one with lots of goals and action but I do like watching more tactical games like the Champions League final.

Football isnt just about goals, for me there is a lot of enjoyment in watching a good defensive performance although being a centre half im maybe being biased

Anyway, well done Jose - would really like to see him go to Madrid now and sort them out.

I like tactical games too but when it is eleven men behind the ball it can become a bit boring

Of course, the argument is we would be pleased if England or Newcastle played similar tactics and won silverware.

It would have been interesting to see Bayern score first because Inter would then have had to resort to Plan B......if they had one, that is

Similar to Greece in 2004, I think their name was on the cup. The two goals from Milito were very well taken but to be fair, I can't remember many other chances for either side apart from Muller's miss at the start of the second half.

The Germans tried to get the ball to Robben as often as possible but on the left hand side they had a young player (can't remember his name) who was far too standoffish and afraid to get into advanced positions. And that seemed to sum the Germans up......should have gone for the jugular with attack after attack when they had the possession and the chance to do so.

Overall, a poor final (like last year's to be fair)

Agree with a lot of that Dorts although rather than it just being negative from Inter I think Bayern made it easy for them to play negative, I was very disappointed with them and cant really believe they got to the final.

Like you say they just looked for Robben and when that didnt work they had nowt else.

Jose just knows how to win football matches and as you say id watch football like that every week at the toon if it yielded the same outcomes.

I cant stand people that come out and moan after games about the opposition "parking the bus" - if they do its your job to break them down, its football not ice skating - there are no added bonus points for style or possession percentages.

Too many Bayern players froze last night, the little Russian guy up front had a poor game and didn't get the support he needed. But with 59% of possession, the Germans should have done a lot more with the ball.

But for me, the biggest decision of the night was on which channel to watch the game - ITV HD or Sky HD? I started off on Sky but Andy Gray was the pundit and when he mumbled some word that sounded like a cross between OCH and AYE which came out as a AYCCHHHE, I switched over

I can handle Sky up until when they go to the pundits in the studio - wouldnt mind a gun with 1 bullet and Souness, Gullit and Redknapp lined up in a row