Fulham enjoy half-time lead in Croatia

Half-time: Dinamo Zagreb 0 Fulham 1

Luis Boa Morte polished off a slick move with a sharp finish to give Fulham a 1-0 interval lead against 10-man Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia tonight.

The Portuguese winger scored in the 36th minute, four minutes after Kristijan Polovanec was sent off for a terrible tackle on Boa Morte.

The crude tackle by Kristijan Polovanec, who kicked Boa Morte on his left knee, earning the home player a straight red card.

Boa Morte was only 15 yards inside the Zagreb half when the defender cut him down in full flight.

Polovanec was not the last man, but Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzales judged the tackle worthy of a straight sending off.

Earlier Andy Melville had looked out of sorts at centre-back and almost gifted the Croats the opening goal when he completely misjudged a long ball, which Balaban wastefully blazed over.

But Fulham made the extra man pay with a slick move culminating in a fine goal in the 36th minute.

Boa Morte flicked the ball to Marlet, who played it wide to Malbranque – and Boa Morte raced onto Malbranque’s diagonal pass to skip round Butina and slide the ball into the net.

Van der Sar saved from Olic’s header – and Mitu thundered a fizzing drive against the outside of the Fulham post in added time.