There used to be a flag that hung in the Putney End just below the Craven Cottage balcony that read: ‘Never expecting, always believing’ and it became the moto among Fulham fans on the club’s run to the Europa League Final in 2009/10.
Over a decade has passed since that European adventure and this is the closest that Fulham have been to being back in a major final. Never in the club's history have Fulham made it to the League Cup semi-final, let alone the final and now they are one game away.
Of course it is an uphill battle to overturn a one goal deficit and beat the team who are top of the Premier League. When the draw was being made for the semi-final it is quite obvious that all Middlesbrough, Fulham and Chelsea fans wanted to avoid drawing Liverpool.
And understandably so, Liverpool are top of the Premier League, scoring goals for fun, undefeated domestically since September and not showing any signs of struggle despite missing some of their key players due to injury and international call ups. Facing Liverpool is a daunting prospect.
The one shred of light to come from the semi-final draw was that Fulham would play the second leg at home. So if they could stay in the tie at Anfield then they would have a chance to make their first League Cup final in front of their own fans under the lights at Craven Cottage.
Fulham gave a decent account of themselves in the first leg when they took a deserved lead through Willian in the first half before two quick-fire goals from Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo turned the game around in the second half.
But Fulham are not out of it and the reason why there should be some optimism is Fulham’s record in two legged games when the second leg has been at home is very good. And with the carrot of a West London derby against Chelsea in the final, could they do it again?
So if any Fulham fans (or neutrals) are looking for reasons why it can be done then here are some straws to clutch at.
2002: Fulham 3-1 Bologna (Loftus Road) Intertoto Cup Final second leg (5-3 Agg)
Jean Tigana led Fulham to 13th place in their first ever Premier League season and that earned them the right to play in the Intertoto Cup. Having seen off the likes of FC Haka, AO Egaleo and Sochaux they drew the more established Serie A side Bologna in the final.
The first leg was a scrappy affair with Channel 4's Football Italia favourite Giuseppe Signori scoring two penalties and Fulham responding through Junichi Inamoto and Sylvain Legwinski to leave the tie all square going back to West London.
And at Fulham’s temporary home of Loftus Road it was not all plane sailing as Tomas Locatelli’s deflected shot made it 1-1 at the break after Inamoto had put Fulham ahead. But in the second half it was the Japanese international who stole the headlines and sent Fulham into the UEFA Cup with two more goals to complete his hat-trick. A performance that cemented his place in Fulham folklore.
2010: Fulham 4-1 Juventus (Craven Cottage) Europa League, Round of 16 Second leg (5-4 Agg)
It was Roy Hodgson who took Fulham on their second European adventure by virtue of finishing seventh the season before, it did mean they entered the Europa League in July and faced Lithuanian side FK Vetra and Russinas Amkar Perm in the early rounds.
In the final group game it was a 3-2 win away in Basel that meant Fulham finished second in a group that also contained CSKA Sofia and Roma. Next up was defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk who they beat 2-1 at Craven Cottage and then drew 1-1 in Ukraine to progress to face Juventus.
A 3-1 defeat in Turin represented a tough ask for Fulham but there was still hope if they could get the first goal in the second leg.
That idea disappeared within two minutes when David Trezeguet scored to put Juventus 4-1 up in the tie. What followed was one of the great European comebacks and one of the finest performances on the banks of the Thames.
First Bobby Zamora pulled a goal back for Fulham and then set about harassing and bullying Italy’s World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro to the point of the experienced defender seeing red after just 26 minutes for a foul on Zoltan Gera. And it was the Hungarian who gave Fulham belief of a miracle when he put them ahead on the night just before the break.
And it was Gera again made it 3-1 on the night and 4-4 in the tie from the penalty spot just after the break and it was left to American Clint Dempsey’s delicate chip from the edge of the area in front of the Hammersmith End to send Craven Cottage wild and knock out the favourites.
2010: Fulham 2-1 Hamburg (Craven Cottage) Europa League, Semi final second leg (2-1 Agg)
After the heroics of the win over Juventus came a quarter final tie with German Bundesliga Champions Wolfsburg, but a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage and 1-0 win in the away leg saw the Cottagers progress to the semi-final to face final hosts Hamburg. But before they faced Ruud van Nistelrooy and Co in the first leg, they had to get the better of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that was causing travel chaos across Europe.
A goalless draw in Hamburg was celebrated in the away end like a victory and having drawn with Roma beaten Basel, Sofia, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus and Wolfsburg at the Cottage it was understandable why the fans were confident of getting the job done back in London.
The second leg did not get off to the best start with Mladen Petric’s thunderbolt of a freekick midway through the first half gave Fulham another mountain to climb. But second half goals at a rocking Craven Cottage from Simon Davies and Gera booked their place in the final.
It was not to be in the final, as two Diego Forlan goals gave Atletico Madrid a narrow extra-time victory - but there were plenty of memorable performances along the way.
2018: Fulham 2-0 Derby County (Craven Cottage) Championship play-off semi-final second leg (2-1 Agg)
After the highs of Europe under Roy Hodgson and owner Mohamed Al-Fayed came the lows of relegation under new owner Shahid Khan.
But in 2017/18 Slavisa Jokanovic masterminded a 23-game unbeaten run that only ended on the final day of the season and would have seen Fulham promoted automatically.
Instead it was the play-offs and Derby County. A solitary Cameron Jerome goal at Pride Park gave the Rams a slender lead going into the second leg.
Fulham had not lost at home in the League since October and were confident. Derby keeper Scott Carson played a big part in keeping it level at the break, but in the second half teen star Ryan Sessegnon put Fulham ahead on the night before Denis Odoi rose like a salmon to head home Sessegnon’s corner and send Craven Cottage wild and book their first trip to Wembley since 1975.
A 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Wembley saw a return to the Premier League - for one season at least.
Just one more thing...
So, as good as Liverpool are, it is only 2-1 in the tie and they will do well not to underestimate Fulham in a home second leg.
And if those are not enough straws the clutch at then if Fulham get a goal and make it 2-2 in the tie and take it to penalties then their spot kick record this season reads: Played 2 Won 2 having beaten both Tottenham and Everton.
Expect Fulham to win? Maybe not. Believe? Always.
Read more from James Andrew:
Match-going fans are priceless to football - so don't price them out of the game
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