Fulham boss Roy Hodgson says Bobby Zamora is as important to his team as Wayne Rooney is to Manchester United.

Zamora has scored eight goals in Fulham's remarkable run to the Europa League semi-finals and is the tournament's top scorer.

Hodgson said: "When Wayne Rooney doesn't play for Manchester United then all the headlines are: "United are missing Wayne Rooney" and they've got riches galore compared to us.

"When Steven Gerrard doesn't play for Liverpool and Didier Drogba doesn't play for Chelsea, when Robin van Persie is out for a long time at the Arsenal, all the headlines you read are about these people.

"I can't say that it doesn't matter; that players of Zamora's quality and his importance to the team this year don't matter and we've got plenty of others who can go in and it won't affect us. That would be wrong because that would be undervaluing the contributions he's made this year, which have been fantastic."