Atletico seeking to avoid overconfidence vs. Fulham as it aims to end 14 years without trophy

Atletico aiming to avoid overconfidence vs. Fulham

HAMBURG — Atletico Madrid is one game from ending its longest stretch without a major trophy. It is trying to not get overconfident against a team that has never won any.

Atletico meets Fulham in Wednesday’s Europa League final without a title since 1996 but knows attempts to attack too vigorously will likely be exploited by an unheralded side that this season has beaten Shakhtar Donestsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg.

“They have excellent players,” Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores said. “The physical aspect and strategy come together. We have to take some risk but not open ourselves to dead-ball situations. There are many reasons to be optimistic but we have to be careful.

“And we need to be courageous.”

But Fulham may be going into the biggest match in its history without its leading scorer after Bobby Zamora sat out training Tuesday.

Zamora has an Achilles’ problem and sat out Tuesday’s afternoon training session. He could not be seen with the rest of the Fulham squad even though manager Roy Hodgson said he was confident that the striker would be able to play.

Ireland winger Damien Duff did train with his teammates at Hamburg Arena after recovering from a leg injury.

“Both players trained yesterday and that was very, very positive,” Hodgson said. “I’ve been given no indication that they’re suffering from a reaction so my hope is that they’ll be available tomorrow.”

Zamora’s absence may have been to protect him against possible injury or to keep Atletico guessing about Fulham’s likely lineup.

But speaking ahead of the session, the usually straightforward Hodgson had said he was hoping Zamora would train normally.

Zamora, who has scored eight times to help Fulham to a first European final, has not played since the 2-1 semifinal win over Hamburg on April 29, when Duff was also hurt.

If he does not recover sufficiently to play, Zamora could be replaced in attack by Erik Nevland, who will be playing his last match before returning to former club Viking Stavanger at the end of the season.

Fulham’s midfield options are richer, with Clint Dempsey, Duff, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera all vying for spots on the team.

Fulham will be up against an Atletico attack boasting Uruguay international Diego Forlan and Argentina star Sergio Aguero, but Murphy said his team is unlikely to change its style and deploy markers on either player.

“We have the same philosophy against every type of team we play,” Murphy said. “We’re well organized and we know our jobs so we don’t usually do the man to man on anybody. That can be a little bit off-putting for the team.”

Atletico’s players, who have a Spanish cup final yet to come, are wary of becoming another high-profile victim of Fulham’s surge.

“I still watch a lot of English football and they are good players and excellent athletes,” said Forlan, a former Manchester United striker.

Atletico has won the Spanish league nine times, hoisted the 1962 Cup Winners’ Cup and was runner-up in the elite European Cup but has reached the final despite winning just two of 14 European matches.

Atletico was eliminated from the Champions League group stage and has advanced from the past three rounds, including a semifinal against Liverpool, only on away goals.

“It has been a difficult season,” said Sanchez Flores, who took over the team in October after it was beaten 4-0 in the Champions League by Chelsea. “The first part was very hard but we managed to stabilize and the team changed its mentality.”

Juan Antonio Reyes and Simao Sabroso will attack for Atletico from wide positions in support of Forlan and Aguero, with Paulo Assuncao and Raul Garcia in central midfield.

But Fulham does have two players with experience of major European finals.

Captain Danny Murphy played in Liverpool’s 5-4 extra-time win over Alaves in the 2001 UEFA Cup final and goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer lost the 2006 UEFA Cup final with Middlesbrough.

“When you play for a club like Liverpool, winning trophies every season is expected,” Murphy said. “This final would have only been a consolation prize to them.”

Liverpool, which lost on away goals to Atletico in the semifinals, only beat Alaves in 2001 through a golden goal own-goal for a third trophy of that season.

Most importantly for Fulham, though, is Hodgson’s experience.

The 62-year-old veteran led Inter Milan to the 1997 UEFA Cup final, has coached three international teams and has worked in seven countries.

“I was very proud to get to that final with Inter but I’m even prouder to be here with Fulham,” Hodgson said. “We’ve been much less fancied in this tournament than Inter were in 1997 and secondly we had a tougher passage to this final.”