Fulham lost 3-1 to Serie A's Juventus at the Olympic Stadium in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 stage, with the Premier League side left the Italian giants' third goal.

The Italians took the lead early on from a Nicola Legrottaglie header before it was doubled by a wonder striker from Jonathan Zebrina in the 25th minute.

Fulham responded with a lucky deflected strike from Dixon Etuhu before David Trezeguet dented Fulham's comeback by nicking a goal just before half time.

Juventus settled for their 3-1 lead after a thrilling first half display with a second half performance that saw them sit back and absorb any pressure from Fulham.

Fulham got off to the worst possible start by going a goal down inside the opening ten minutes. Mark Schwarzer had initially done well to turn away a Trezeguet glancing header around the post in the eighth minute.

But from Diego's resulting out swinging corner Legrottaglie out jumped the Fulham defence to head the ball down and past Schwarzer.

Juventus then began to control the game in typical Italian fashion – passing the ball around between the defence and the midfield.

Fulham midfielder Jonathan Greening was nearly caught out in the 23rd minute when he was dispossessed by Trezeguet. The French forward then drifting towards goal before unleashing a left foot drive that flew just over the crossbar.

But it did not take long for Juventus to double their lead via a brilliant solo effort from Zebina in the 25th minute. The French defender skipped easily past Simon Davies and Dickson Etuhu before rifling a right-footed rocket into the right of the goal past the diving Schwarzer.

But Fulham responded with a goal completely against the run of play in the 35th minute via an unlikely goal scorer in Etuhu.

Fulham were awarded a free kick after Fabio Cannavaro was penalised for fouling Bobby Zamora. Davies stepped up to deliver a whipped in cross that fell to the feet of Etuhu who slashed an effort goal wards that bounced off Legrottaglie's leg. The ball trickled into the bottom right corner of the net past the rooted Alexander Manninger who was yet to be called into action.

The goal seemed to ignite the Cottagers attacking wise and they nearly snatched an equaliser minutes after Etuhu's strike. It was again from a set piece via Simon Davies in the 39th minute.

Fulham centre half Brede Hangeland out muscled his marker and headed towards the top left corner of the goal where Zoltan Gera was just too short to divert the ball goal wards in front of the gaping hands of Manninger.

The Whites created two more opportunities to draw level, firstly Zamora volleyed an Aaron Hughes long ball into the midriff of Manninger before Gera latched onto a Zamora flick but his left footed shot was also straight at the Austrian.

Fulham looked to be heading into the break and a Roy Hodgson team talk just one goal down but Juventus increased their lead on the stroke of half time.

The goal once again, disappointingly and surprisingly, came from a set piece after Schwarzer had done superbly well to tip over a Fabio Grosso shot.

From the resulting corner the ball fell to the feet of Etuhu who failed to clear with Trezeguet poised to capitalise. The Frenchman latched onto the loose ball and fired it against the post before it rebounded straight back at him. The 31-year-old then reacted well to stab the ball into the far corner past Damien Duff on the back post despite the two minutes of allotted injury time already being up.

Juventus began to stretch the west London side and ask questions of Fulham when in the space of five minutes after the restart the hosts had two efforts on goal.

Firstly Antonio Candreva struck an effort wide of the goal while Diego also drove wide from outside the area with 48 minutes played.

It was obvious from the way that the Italian giants were playing that they didn't want to concede any more away goals and were content on sitting back and maintaining possession.

Legrottaglie had another headed opportunity from a Mauro Camoranesi under the challenge of Hangeland which flew over the bar in the 55th minute.

The home side posed very little threat in the second half in terms of going forward but whenever they - rarely - drifted forward the Fulham back line especially Hangeland stood strong to deny Juventus from increasing their lead.

Jonathon Greening picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Candreva in the 84th minute that will see him miss the second leg in Craven Cottage adding further concern to Fulham's absent midfielders list.

With the game reaching an end and both sides cancelling each other out there was time for Schwarzer to produce another fine stop when he tipped a curling Diego shot round his left post in the 89th minute.

While a 3-1 defeat is not the result Fulham would have wanted it was perhaps what they deserved against a solid and professional Juventus side – but with an away goal to their name anything is possible for Fulham when they welcome Juventus to Craven Cottage.