Ten years ago today the world of Celtic was firmly in Seville.
The little known Spanish city was the meeting point for 80,000 fans with dreams and stories to tell as a Henrik Larsson inspired side reached the final of the UEFA Cup.
Travel Agents in Scotland had never had it so good as fans bought up flights and packages to take the to the Spanish mainland or the nearby Algarve to plot their way to Seville.
Supporters from North America, Australia and all points on the Celtic globe suddenly made travel plans to ensure that they were in Seville with the event of getting to the Spanish city in some ways overshadowing the match itself!
To reach SeVille Celtic had taken the V-route with SuduVa, Blackburn RoVers, Celta Vigo, Vfb Stuttgart, LiVerpool and BoaVista beaten along the way.
That route was filled with many great footballing memories, I’ll pick out five of the best as thoughts return to an unforgettable experience that no supporter will ever forget.
- Blackburn 0-2 Celtic. With the taunts of Men against Bhoys Celtic headed to the darkest corner of Lancashire to take up Graeme Souness’s Premiership superstars. Guarding a 1-0 lead was never an option as Celtic took the lead in the 15th minute and ensured their progress with a Chris Sutton header in front of the massive travelling support midway through the second half.
- Celta Vigo 2-1 Celtic. Another Spanish outpost well off the tourist track was visited, again with just a single goal lead to show from the home leg. Celta were riding high in La Liga and levelled the scores in the 24th minute through Jesuli but in the 37th minute John Hartson equalised to the delight of the visiting support packed into a tiny terrace. Benni McCarthy’s 54th minute goal ensured a desperately slow second half but the bhoys survived to ensure European football after Christmas for the first time in 23 years!
- Stuttgart 3-2 Celtic. Dreams of Seville are starting to take shape with package holidays to Spain in late May showing an upturn! With a 3-1 home lead Celtic expected a tough return tie but with Didier Agathe running riot down the right flank Celtic were 2-0 up within 15 minutes thanks to goals from Alan Thompson and Sutton. Worryingly Stuttgart pulled it back to lead 3-2 going into the final minutes but a catastrophe was avoided with Anfield the next step on the road.
- On the back of a controversial League Cup Final defeat to Rangers, Celtic again headed down the M74 with Anfield the destination following a 1-1 home draw. Six years earlier Celtic had lost out on away goals to Liverpool following a 2-2 aggregate but this time it was glory all the way with Momo Sylla an unlikely hero! A low free kick from Alan Thompson in the first half opened the scoring with a spectacular Hartson special ensuring a place in the last four and another Premiership scalp
- After all the glory to reach the last four, and with thousands of trips to Spain already booked and paid for it looked like Porto’s second club, Boavista were about to end the Seville dream. The mid-table hosts looked comfortable playing for a 0-0 draw to take them through on the away goals rule until Larsson struck with ten minutes to go to kick off parties worldwide. A goal for Boavista would have taken the tie to extra-time but the team hung on comfortably to qualify for the final despite one of the poorest performances of the epic run.
Every Celtic fan has a story or three to tell about Seville, whether you were in the stadium, in the city or caught up in the occasion from afar. Feel free to add your own tales below as a very special day in the 125 year history of Celtic is celebrated with the stories of the support inevitably linked to the exploits of the players.
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Me and the wife slept on the ground beside the fountain outside the alfonso xiv palace. After missing our bus back to villamoura in the algarve. There was thousands of fans lying everywhere lol. What a night. HH.
You were more likely to meet old pals in Seville than at Celtic Park- everyone was there! Wherever people were living they had to make their way to Seville that day- and they did.
And memories to last a lifetime, every possible route was taken to be in Seville, I think every flight out of Scotland to mainland Europe that week was full as fans plotted their merry way to say- I was there- and we were.