It has been marvellous while it has lasted, but if Fulham are to extend their eight-month Europa League adventure, they will have to defeat Juventus, one of the greats of European football, in the return leg of their round-of-16 tie at Craven Cottage on Thursday.

Not just beat them, either, but beat them good and proper after shabby first-half defending cost them a two-goal deficit in the first leg at a freezing Stadio Olimpico last night. At least Dickson Etuhu’s away goal has given them room with which to manoeuvre.

Actually a 2-0 win would do nicely in West London and, courtesy of Etuhu’s wickedly deflected strike in northern Italy, it would be enough for Fulham to progress into the quarter-finals.

How those at the Cottage would celebrate that.

“It will be an exciting game and I’m sure our public will enjoy it,” Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, said. “To score two goals and not concede any is a difficult task but I’ve certainly seen stranger things happen in my time in football.

“Getting back to just 2-1 down, I thought we were reasonably placed. It was in our hands then. But to concede again, and in added-on time in the first half, really killed us. It was a bad goal to concede.”

If it was bitterly cold last night, at least the blizzards of the previous day had moved on from Turin and the pitch was perfectly playable in front of a disappointingly half-full stadium. Nine minutes in and Fulham were disappointingly 1-0 behind.

From a corner swung in by Diego, Nicola Legrottaglie, the Juventus centre back, rose alone to head past Mark Schwarzer, the ball picking up pace as it skidded off the turf on its way in. The absence of marking was inexcusable.

Fulham, though, do not lack belief and 11 minutes later, in their 46th match of the season and thirteenth in the competition, they could have drawn level after Damien Duff had driven to the byline. The Ireland winger’s pull-back totally wrongfooted the Juventus defence but Simon Davies, given a free shot, miskicked completely.

Juventus took heart from the narrow escape and, after David Trezeguet had guided a long-range missile fractionally over Schwarzer’s crossbar, they increased their lead. It came from an unlikely source — Jonathan Zebina, the right back — but was a sublime example of finishing, his 25-yard shot arcing into the net via the far post.

Resilience has been a key ingredient in Fulham’s European excursions and, in the 36th minute, they reduced the gap.

A free kick by Davies found its way to Etuhu and although Alex Manninger, the Juventus and former Arsenal goalkeeper, appeared to have his shot covered, it veered in off a startled Legrottaglie.

Fulham could have equalised, Manninger having to save efforts from Brede Hangeland, Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera, but they went to sleep at the back again. Schwarzer tipped over from Fabio Grosso but, from the resultant corner, Trezeguet squeezed the ball home after his initial attempt had struck a post.

The second half meandered tediously without any dramatic incident, though Gera did have a half-chance that was blocked and failed to trouble Manninger, while Schwarzer was forced to make a fine save to keep out a swirling effort from Diego in the last minute. At 4-1 down, Fulham would have been gone.

Tiredness may yet be their biggest hindrance. Defeat at the Olimpico kicked off a punishing five-match spell in which they also play Manchester United in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday, Juventus in the Europa return, Manchester City in the league and Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup quarter-final replay at White Hart Lane.

“We have had a lot of games and maybe there was an element of fatigue tonight,” Hodgson said. “Perhaps we weren’t as sprightly as we have been in some of our games. This will certainly be a testing time for our durability but we’re not out of this competition yet. It’s not impossible.”

Juventus (4-3-2-1): A Manninger — J Zebina, N Legrottaglie, F Cannavaro, F Grosso — H Salihamidzic (sub: M Camoranesi, 46min), C Poulsen (sub: M Sissoko, 76), C Marchisio — A Candreva, Diego — D Trezeguet (sub: V Iaquinta, 62). Substitutes not used: A Del Piero, Z Grygera, P De Ceglie, C Pinsoglio. Booked: Legrottaglie.

Fulham (4-2-3-1): M Schwarzer — C Baird, B Hangeland, A Hughes, P Konchesky — S Davies (sub: C Dempsey, 61), D Etuhu — D Duff, Z Gera, J Greening — R Zamora. Substitutes not used: S Kelly, E Nevland, P Zuberbühler, C Smalling, K Marsh-Brown. Booked: Greening.

Referee: F Meyer (Germany).