Fulham boss Jean Tigana paid tribute to Junichi Inamoto after the Japanese livewire sparked the Cottagers' European dream back into life with a stunning substitute appearance in last night's 2-2 draw at Bologna.
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Fulham midfielder Junichi Inamoto sparked the Cottagers' European dream back into life with a stunning solo goal
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The Londoners, with two away goals to their names, will be confident of winning a place in the UEFA Cup after twice battling back to level the scores in the first leg of their Intertoto Cup final.
Bologna scored and seeking more creativity, Tigana brought on Inamoto who quickly proved his World Cup exploits for Japan were no fluke.
The attacking midfielder, who replaced Steed Malbranque in the 60th minute, scored the leveller just two minutes after going onto the field.
Recalling the wonder-goal he scored in the World Cup opener against Belgium, Inamoto won the ball in midfield before dribbling past two defenders and scoring to Gianluca Pagliuca's right.
"It was a very English challenge from Inamoto to win the ball and then it was a fantasy goal. It's pretty good when a player does that just after you bring him on," Tigana said.
"That was just as important as the one against Belgium because they were both in games my team could not afford to lose," Inamoto added.
Bologna gave the impression that Fulham had seen the best of them which should make Tigana's side slight favourites for next week's return leg.
"This was a big step and I hope it will be another big step in the next game," said Tigana.
"There was a real atmosphere and some of their players can cheat and provoke and try to disturb my team but we played very well throughout."