No wonder Roy Hodgson’s proud. Little old Fulham in a European final. When do I wake up?

I do know the club has had some bad times. It’s been a wonderful journey and it’s an achievement as a coach I am very proud of. I have been lucky in my career with some lucky moments but the next one is the best one.

To reach a European final, I don’t care if you’re a top-four team or Fulham, it’s an amazing achievement. I know I’ll remember this night and many nights like it.

This team has produced better results and better football than we’re entitled to. We are in the final for no other reason than we have played very well in some difficult games.

We made a major piece of history here tonight. The atmosphere is something we will remember for a long time. I’m a little bit drained of emotion. You go through a roller coaster out there but cannot be more delighted than I am with the performance. The time at Fulham has been quite magical for me. I established a rapport with the chairman, who has been very good and given me the backing I needed.

And the fans, right from the off, even during the moments when it was not going too well, were still behind us. That is reward for those fans who will now watch their team in the Europa League final.

It was a great performance because it would have been so easy to have lost our heads after Petric’s great goal. It was fairly even but we are suddenly one down and an away goal [down]. It would have been easy to forget our plans but we didn’t and our movement was very good.

At half-time we were determined to play our game as we planned and hope it would work and with a bit of fortune that is what happened. The character of this team has been proved time and time again. They consistently surprise me that they continue to show such character. Normally such success softens you and you are not so determined to get such success.

The stadium in Hamburg is one that can suit teams that play good football. I don’t think having been there before is an advantage but the city was wonderful and it was a wonderful playing surface. Madrid have excellent players and it’s a stadium for good players.

Hodgson hopes Bobby Zamora will be fit for Fulham’s 63rd game of the season.

The injection on Bobby worked quite well but he was beginning to feel the effects. Now we have two weeks to get [him] fit for the final.