Roy Hodgson has admitted his disappointed after Fulham conceded a third goal just before half time in their first leg last-16 tie against Juventus in the Europa League.

Fulham had responded from going two goals down with just half an hour played at the Olympic Stadium by pulling a goal back thanks to a deflected Dickson Etuhu effort in the 35th minute.

But Juventus increased their lead on the stroke of half time to 3-1 when French forward David Trezeguet poked home and Hodgson admits the goal was 'very foolish'.

He said: "The real disappointment from our point of view was having got back in the game at 2-1 and seemingly not being troubled we gave away a very foolish goal just before half time and gave ourselves an uphill battle.

"It is a bitter pill to swallow and the bitter pill we are going to be carrying with us this week. It was very unnecessary – we had possession of the ball in their [Juventus] half with one minute to play. I think we should of come in to the half at 2-1 and at which case we would have been quite happy."

But Hodgson was quick to compliment the style of Juventus, he added: "I've got to congratulate Juventus on their effectiveness least of all from scoring the two goals from the set pieces.

"They've got good players in their team and good defenders so even when you're getting behind them they're covering well and on two occasions [Fabio] Cannavaro made wonderful interceptions."

The Fulham boss was also keen to highlight his side's second half performance and emphasise that the tie is not over.

He said: "I thought the players did extremely well second half. At 3-1 it's dangerous - you want to try and score a second goal but at the same time you don't want to concede another so it was a good performance to go out second half and play 0-0.

"I thought we clearly had the better of the game and created some interesting chances. We certainly weren't disgraced here today and we're not out of the tie as yet."
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