Ghana's Pantsil makes history - he's in Euro final

Published on: 30 April 2010

Ghana defender John Pantsil will play in the final of this year's Europa League after helping his side Fulham to qualify for the final on Thursday night.

The English were not expected to get this far in the competition but they stood firm to reach their first final ever in Europe with a Ghanaian playing a key part.

This means Africa's best right-back will be in action when they play Spanish side Atletico Madrid on 12 May.

He becomes the second Ghanaian player to play in the major European final after Sulley Muntari's Inter Milan reached the Champions League final.

Fulham completed their fairytale run to the Europa League final with a 2-1 win over Hamburg SV at Craven Cottage, while fellow English rivals Liverpool crashed to a home defeat against Atletico Madrid in the second semi-final.

Goals in the second leg from Fulham's Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera in the 69th and 76th minute sealed a 2-1 aggregate win and a place in the final in Hamburg, Germany.

With the first leg having finished 0-0, Croatian striker Mladen Petric stunned the home side early on with a vicious 30-metre free kick after 22 minutes that Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer could only watch as it sailed into his net.

It looked like an ideal start to life for interim Hamburg coach Ricardo Moniz, who took over on a temporary basis after the firing of Bruno Labbadia on Monday.

But it was Fulham, needing two goals to win, who dramatically took the lead late in the second-half to earn their place in the May 12 final.

With Ghana going into the World Cup in June, such achievements are likely to spur the Black Stars on to greater heights.

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