Source: Daily_Mail
Fulham head to Hamburg on the buses for their Europa League semi-final first leg tie
Fulham set off for the biggest match in their history by coach on Tuesday, as the flight ban caused by the volcanic ash cloud showed no signs of ending.[LNB]Their semi-final against Hamburg on Thursday will be the 17th match of their Europa League campaign - but no-one could have envisaged it would take the team quite so long to get there.[LNB] On target: Damien Duff scores against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals earlier this month[LNB]The club took the coach they drive to Premier League matches, but spruced it up with pillows to make the players comfortable for the 600-mile, 24-hour journey.[LNB]AROUND OTHER SPORTS ATHLETICS: Organisers of Sunday's Virgin London Marathon are flying athletes from Africa privately.BOXING: Carl Froch refused to travel by ferry but then missed a private jet to Denmark for Saturday's WBC title fight with Mikkel Kessler.CRICKET: The ICC will fly England and six other teams from Dubai to the World Twenty20 in West Indies.FOOTBALL: The Serie A match-fixing trial in Naples, in which Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is a witness, has been adjourned until Tuesday.GOLF: Melissa Reid and Karen Stupples are driving from Kent to Alicante for the European Cup.ICE HOCKEY: Nottingham Panther Stephen Lee's dad drove him from Hull to Ljubljana for Team GB's world championship match v Slovenia.[LNB]Fulham left their training ground at lunchtime, drove to Folkestone for the Eurotunnel train to Calais and were planning to drive for at least eight hours before stopping overnight in Germany, near Dortmund.[LNB]The team are due to arrive in time to train on the pitch at the Hamburg Arena on Wednesday night and defender Aaron Hughes said: 'The most important thing is staying focused on the task in hand and just getting on with it. We know what's at stake and we've done really, really well to get here and we're eager not to let it go.'[LNB]Fulham have put on two extra coaches for season ticket-holders. They will leave Craven Cottage at 6pm and return straight after the game. The trip costs £99 but fans who have booked on the Fulham Flyer trip will not get a refund unless the flight is cancelled.[LNB]Commentator Jon Champion and analyst Craig Burley were among an eight-strong ESPN party making their way to Hamburg in two minibuses.[LNB]But their TV crew in the second bus were held up in nine miles of tailbacks on the M25 and had to wait for the next ferry from Dover.[LNB] Enlarge Mammoth: The two journeys facing the English sides[LNB] Liverpool and Fulham set off on their epic journeys in the Europa LeagueFulham to travel by road to Hamburg for their Europa League semi-final clashFULHAM FC
