The Bhoys from Seville

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The Celtic players train at the stadium before the final
The Celtic players train at the stadium before the final

The Bhoys From Seville was the nickname given to the Celtic team that were runners up in the 2002-03 UEFA Cup.

In the road to the final, goalkeeper Robert Douglas was the only player to play all 13 matches. He conceded twelve goals and had six clean sheets. Taking the goals scored by Celtic and goals conceded the aggregate score was 26-11 to Celtic. Striker Henrik Larsson was the highest goalscorer for Celtic scoring a total of 11 goals, including a hat-trick in the first game against FK Sūduva.

Around 80.000 Celtic fans travelled to watch the club compete in the final at the Estadio Olimpico in Seville in southern Spain. [1] [2] [3] Celtic lost the match 3–2 to Porto by a silver goal in extra time, despite two goals from Henrik Larsson during normal play. Celtic's cause was not helped by the booking of Alan Thompson early in the match, and the late sending off by referee Lubos Michel of Slovakia of defender Bobo Balde. A total of 2 red cards and 8 yellow cards were shown. The attendance was 52,972.

Henrik Larsson scored twice for Celtic (47th min and 57th min). Derlei scored two for Porto, Alenichev scoring the other (Derlei 45 Alenichev 54 Derlei 115).

The exemplary conduct of the thousands of travelling Celtic supporters received widespread praise from the people of Seville (not one single supporter was arrested) and the fans were awarded prestigious Fair Play Awards from both FIFA and UEFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour". [4] UEFA did, however, also express disappointment at the jeering by the Celtic support during the presentation of the cup to Porto. [5]

After the match Henrik Larsson said in an interview that he was disappointed to have scored two goals in the final and still come away with runners up medal. He was named man of the match.

The Porto manager, José Mourinho led his team to the Champions League title the following year, before moving to Chelsea.

Contents

[edit] Campaign results

  1. Celtic 8-1 FK Suduva 19-09-2002(H)
  2. FK Suduva 0-2 Celtic 03-10-2002(A)
  3. Celtic 1-0 Blackburn 31-10-2002(H)
  4. Blackburn 0-2 Celtic 14-11-2002(A)
  5. Celtic 1-0 Celta Vigo 28-11-2002(H)
  6. Celta Vigo 2-1 Celtic 12-12-2002(A)
  7. Celtic 3-1 VfB Stuttgart 20-02-2003(H)
  8. VfB Stuttgart 3-2 Celtic 27-02-2003(A)
  9. Celtic 1-1 Liverpool 13-03-2003(H)
  10. Liverpool 0-2 Celtic 20-03-2003(A)
  11. Celtic 1-1 Boavista 10-04-2003(H)
  12. Boavista 0-1 Celtic 24-04-2003(A)
  13. Celtic 2-3 Porto 21-05-2003(N)

[edit] The team

3-5-2 formation

Celtic do their customary huddle before the final
Celtic do their customary huddle before the final
  1. Robert Douglas
  2. Bobo Balde
  3. Johan Mjällby
  4. Joos Valgaeren (substitute for Ulrik Laursen 64 min)
  5. Didier Agathe
  6. Neil Lennon
  7. Paul Lambert (substitute for Jackie McNamara 74 min)
  8. Stilian Petrov (substitute Shaun Maloney 104 min)
  9. Alan Thompson
  10. Chris Sutton
  11. Henrik Larsson

Substitutes not used

  1. Magnus Hedman
  2. Momo Sylla
  3. David Fernández
  4. Jamie Smith

[edit] Trivia

As the campaign proceeded, the fans coined the phrase "V for Victory" as every team had V in their name except Porto in the final - Sūduva, Blackburn Rovers, Celta Vigo, VfB Stuttgart, Liverpool, and Boavista.

[edit] See also

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