FULHAM’S hopes of a fairytale place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League were left hanging by a thread last night as European heavyweights Juventus outclassed Roy Hodgson’s side at the Stadio Olimpico.

MICHAEL CIANI scored at both ends and Bordeaux missed two penalties as the French champions leapfrogged Bayern Munich to move to the top of Group A last night as the visitors finished the game with nine men.

ITALY have made it, and with a match to spare, just as they did when they won the World Cup in 1982 and 2006, as Marcello Lippi was keen to point out.

THE threat posed by Italy’s marauding full-back Fabio Grosso is one of the reasons why Liam Lawrence appears poised for a starting place for Ireland at Croke Park tomorrow night.

Italian World Cup winner Marco Tardelli will have no qualms about denting his native country’s defence of their title in Dublin on Saturday evening.

Juventus 1 Bordeaux 1

ITALY made their reservations for the World Cup finals in South Africa last night after a dramatically improved performance against Bulgaria in Turin.

Italy 2 Bulgaria 0

Andrea Pirlo has kept his place in the team for Italy's World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria tonight.

Andrea Dossena’s wish to play at Juventus next season may not come true, according to the player’s agent.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez's summer plans may not be as straightforward as he would have wanted as it seems he faces another transfer battle.

MOHAMED HOMOS scored the only goal as Egypt claimed a memorable Confederations Cup victory over Italy in Johannesburg last night.

Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington handed out four new caps in his starting XI with Chris Casement, Colin Coates, Corry Evans and Stephen Carter all lining up for the first time in a largely inexperienced team to face Italy.

Half time: Italy 1 Republic of Ireland 0

AS IF the result in Dublin wasn’t enough of a bubble-burster, Italy had to go and canter to the most straightforward of wins on what was supposed to be a potentially tricky, if short, hop across the Adriatic Sea.

Montenegro 0 Italy 2

BARCELONA booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a dominant display against Lyon last night.

Brazil 2 Italy 0

WORLD champions Italy shared the honours with Greece after a low-key encounter in Athens ended in a draw between the two European rivals.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi admitted his side were lucky after an injury-time winner secured them a 2-1 victory in Cyprus in their opening World Cup qualifier on Saturday night.

Italy 2 Cyprus 1

France and Italy walk out for their trans-Alpine clash at Zurich’s Letzigrund tonight knowing their Euro 2008 fate lies in the hands of Romania.

Italy 1 Romania 1

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson rang the changes for this crucial Champions League match against Lyon at Old Trafford.

Walter Smith fielded a cautious line-up for Rangers’ crunch Champions League qualifier against Lyon at Ibrox.

IT’S a disease that won’t go away of its own volition. The ‘authorities’ that speak loudly of their intentions have, so far, failed utterly to address the problem.

WHILE Chelsea romped to a comfortable win in Sofia last night, group rivals Werder Bremen and Barcelona shared the points in Germany.

AP: What’s your biggest fear for the forthcoming season for your club?

Italy coach Marcello Lippi and his France counterpart Raymond Domenech both named unchanged teams for Sunday evening’s World Cup final in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

BRING on the Martians! Maybe it’s not the most catchy football chant for next season, but Il Messaggero captured perfectly the mood of delirium that swept across Italy at around 11.30 on Tuesday night.

– A tearful Michael Ballack claimed “it just isn’t meant to be” for him to play in a World Cup final after Italy clinched an epic semi-final victory over Germany in Dortmund last night.

Jurgen Klinsmann’s World Cup dream was destroyed by two Italy goals at the end of extra time as Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero struck to secure a place in the final.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi sprung no surprises when he named his team for the World Cup semi-final showdown against host nation Germany.

Substitute Francesco Totti scored an injury-time penalty to stun Australia and guide 10-man Italy to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

ITALIAN coach Marcello Lippi expects Daniele De Rossi to receive some harsh punishment for elbowing US forward Brian McBride in the face.

Italy 2 Ghana 0

Italy 2 Ghana 0

Scotland came within 15 minutes of beating Italy today, for the first time in 40 years.

Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr threw caution to the wind and named a strong attacking line-up in a bid to gain a confidence-boosting win ahead of next month’s vital World Cup qualifier with France.

Juventus won the 27th Serie A championship of their history today although a 2-2 draw with Perugia was not the perfect way to celebrate.