Fulham boss Roy Hodgson hailed an "outstanding achievement" after Fulham set-up a Europa League final against Atletico Madrid with a 2-1 victory over Hamburg.
Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera struck in the second half after Mladen Petric's stunning free-kick had given the German club a 22nd minute lead at Craven Cottage.
Fulham now face the biggest match in their 131-year history when they return to Hamburg for the final on May 12 and Hodgson insisted they had earnt their success the hard way.
"This club has had some bad times and we've looked into the abyss once or twice," he said.
"Everyone is proud that we're about to start our 10th Premier League season.
"And to have reached a Europa League final - and I don't care if you're Fulham or one of the top four - is an outstanding achievement. That will be recognised by everyone.
"I can only enjoy the moment and make sure that the glory on the players is not deflected elsewhere.
"We're in the final because we've played very, very well throughout and knocked out some very difficult teams, not least Hamburg.
"It's been a wonderful journey that I'm really proud of. The team have produced better football than we're entitled to ask of them."
Hodgson hailed the character his side showed after staging a spirited second-half fightback in their 59th match of a campaign that started in July.
"It was a great performance because it would have been so easy for us to loose our heads after the great goal they scored," he said.
"I thought we were good value for our victory and the character of this team has been proved time and time again.
"Normally success softens you and makes you less determined but that hasn't been the case with this team throughout this season.
"It's been an amazingly long season yet watching the players run around in the second half it didn't look as though we'd played 59 games this season."
Hodgson hopes Bobby Zamora will be available for the final after Fulham's top scorer, who passed a late fitness test on his Achilles injury, limped off in the 58th minute.
"The injection we gave him worked quite well but he was beginning to feel the effects in the second half," he said.
"Now we have two weeks to get him fit for the final. The problem will exist until he gets more treatment on it.
"But if I rest him for one or two of the league matches perhaps he will be fit for the final."
Gera hailed his winner as the "most important goal" of his career.
"It's the most important goal I have ever scored so I'm very, very happy. It's amazing," Gera told ITV4. "We did so well, every single player."
Fellow goalscorer Davies was equally thrilled by the performance and credited Hodgson as the motivation behind the second-half fightback.
"The manager said at half-time keep playing your football and you'll get your rewards, and we did tonight so we're buzzing," said the Welshman.
"We've played some great teams [in this competition] and come from behind. Everyone was amazing tonight."
Danny Murphy, whose pass set up Davies for the leveller, added: "It just keeps getting better.
"When we went a goal behind it would have been easy to think this was the end of the journey, but I thought the spirit we showed in the second half was tremendous."
Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer also paid tribute to both his team-mates and manager after one of the most famous nights in the west London club's history.
"This team has got an unbelievable amount of spirit and character to come back from a goal down," said the Australian.
"They really did rock us and it took us a while to get going again.
"He [Hodgson] has been fantastic since day one when I arrived at the club, and every player can vouch for that."
Interim Hamburg coach Ricardo Moniz had no complaints with the result.
"We just didn't do what we needed. We needed to go forward more," he said.
"When we were 1-0 up I told the team to get the ball to the wingers but they couldn't.
"It's a sad evening for us. We lost the game and didn't do well enough and that's that."