Thanks for the memories, boys!

Hamburg: Not since 1975 have Fulham had a day out quite like this one.

They have waited a long time, the fans who watched the FA Cup final 35 years ago, for another opportunity to don their black and white and cheer on their team in the last stage of a knockout competition.

Whoever thought it would be Fulham, suddenly everyone's second team, and not Manchester United or Chelsea who would be England's sole representatives in a European final this season?

It had been a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat ride and Fulham were not quite ready to take their foot off the throttle here on Wednesday night.

Uefa president Michel Platini said in his programme notes that Wednesday night's finalists represented the "diversity" of the Europa League.

A subtle dig by the Frenchman perhaps that a team placed ninth in Spain's top flight, with one game to go, met a side that finished 12th in the Premier League.

But both Fulham and Atletico Madrid experienced twisting and sometimes torturous routes to last night's grand finale in Hamburg.

The Spanish side had won just two of their 14 European matches since the start of the Champions League group stage in September.

They needed a Diego Forlan goal in the 90th minute to beat Galatasaray in the Europa League first knockout round and only away goals saw them through against Sporting Lisbon, Valencia and Liverpool.

It made a mockery of the competition to think three victories in the Europa League would be enough to win it.

Extraordinary run

But isn't that why we remain enthralled by football, for the last-gasp winners and the thrill of stealing victory from the jaws of defeat?

If the game was fair, the 33lb trophy would have been winging its way to west London before kick-off.

This has been an extraordinary adventure for Fulham. Danny Murphy described it as "film-like".

Mark Schwarzer, a published author of children's books, has said he might one day pen the story himself. It would be well worth reading.

Sir Alex Ferguson said he was probably still on the beach when Fulham kicked off in Lithuania against FK Vetra on July 30 last year.

Ten months on, United's season had finished and Fulham were the only ones left to fly the flag for English football.

Schwarzer played his 60th game of the campaign last night — more than any other Premier League player — as Fulham took to the field for the 63rd time.

Yet, for all Fulham's success, people remember finals. Murphy tasting that dramatic victory in Dortmund with Liverpool in 2001.

Rank outsiders

Schwarzer's Middlesbrough being crushed 4-0 by Sevilla in 2006.

Hodgson watching his Inter Milan side lose to Schalke on penalties in the San Siro in 1997.

The Fulham fans who watched their team in the bottom tier of English football, just 13 years ago, never thought they would see this.

Never thought they would see David "Diddy" Hamilton, the match day compere at Craven Cottage, on a raised platform in front of them before a major European final.

Never thought that, of the 192 clubs who have played in the Europa League this season, it would be theirs who made it to the final.

Upsetting the odds had become a habit for the team who were 40-1 outsiders at the start of this competition.

Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero ran them ragged as Fulham chased shadows in the first half and Atletico fully deserved their lead.

But it took just one attack and a burst of individual brilliance from Bobby Zamora to level affairs. Simon Davies did the rest, firing in Fulham's equaliser with his right foot.

There are no stars in this Fulham team, just a group of good, solid footballers who work hard for each other and listen to the clear directions of their manager, Roy Hodgson.

They are not a gung ho side and sometimes, when they set up their two solid banks of four, press and defend, they can, as Davies admitted last week, even be a little bit boring. To be a little kinder, they have an "Italian style", as Murphy described it recently. But this season's 21,000-mile canter through Europe has been anything but boring.

To think, it looked like it would be over when Fulham lost 2-1 to Roma in November, when they needed a win in Basle to qualify in December, when they went 4-1 down on aggregate to Juventus in March and when they went a goal behind to Hamburg last month.

They have fought volcanic ash clouds, dubious red cards, injuries, suspensions and come out on top.