 | |||||||
| Event | 2002–03 UEFA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Aftersilver goalextra time | |||||||
| Date | 21 May 2003 | ||||||
| Venue | Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla,Seville | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Derlei (Porto)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia) | ||||||
| Attendance | 52,140[2] | ||||||
←2002 2004 → | |||||||
The2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 betweenCeltic of Scotland andPorto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 inextra time thanks to a goal fromDerlei.
Before this game, no club from Scotland or Portugal had won theUEFA Cup.
The game had what UEFA described as "the largest travelling support to have assembled for a single game"[3] – around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled toSeville for the final.[4][5][6][7] For this turnout and the manner in which they conducted themselves, Celtic fans received an award from FIFA and UEFA, winning theFIFA Fair Play Award that year and being presented with a formal recognition fromUEFA at a home match the following season.[8][9]
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
 Celtic | Round |  Porto | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League | UEFA Cup | |||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Qualifying rounds | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
 Basel | 3–3 (a) | 3–1 (H) | 0–2 (A) | Third qualifying round | N/A | |||
| UEFA Cup | ||||||||
 Sūduva | 10–1 | 8–1 (H) | 2–0 (A) | First round |  Polonia Warsaw | 6–2 | 6–0 (H) | 0–2 (A) |
 Blackburn Rovers | 3–0 | 1–0 (H) | 2–0 (A) | Second round |  Austria Wien | 3–0 | 1–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
 Celta Vigo | 2–2 (a) | 1–0 (H) | 1–2 (A) | Third round |  Lens | 3–1 | 3–0 (H) | 0–1 (A) |
 VfB Stuttgart | 5–4 | 3–1 (H) | 2–3 (A) | Fourth round |  Denizlispor | 8–3 | 6–1 (H) | 2–2 (A) |
| Liverpool | 3–1 | 1–1 (H) | 2–0 (A) | Quarter-finals |  Panathinaikos | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | 0–1 (H) | 2–0 (A) |
| Boavista | 2–1 | 1–1 (H) | 1–0 (A) | Semi-finals |  Lazio | 4–1 | 4–1 (H) | 0–0 (A) |
The game was played atEstadio Olímpico de Sevilla on 21 May with kick-off at 20:45 local time. A team of officials was selected from Slovakia.
A rash challenge led toJoos Valgaeren of Celtic getting a yellow card in the eighth minute. After this it was a stoic affair, until 32 minutes into the first half whenCapucho played inDeco, but he could do no more than fire his shot straight atRab Douglas. Straight after this attack, Celtic broke on the counter withHenrik Larsson puttingDidier Agathe through on the right but his cross was too high forChris Sutton. Larsson had a chance to make it 1–0 in the 35th minute but was unable to get enough contact on the ball. Porto came close in the 41st minute when Deco moved pastBobo Baldé to go one on one with Douglas, who saved Deco's shot with his legs.
Porto found a way through on the stroke of half-time. After some great work from Deco,Dmitri Alenichev's shot was parried by Douglas andDerlei slotted the ball in to give Porto a 1–0 lead. It was his 11th goal of the competition. Porto's lead did not last long after the restart as Celtic equalised after 47 minutes when Larsson met Agathe's cross to direct a looping header in over the helplessVítor Baía to get his tenth goal of the tournament and his 200th Celtic goal. Within five minutes, it was 2–1 when Deco evaded a tackle and slipped a through ball to Alenichev who converted the cross.[10]
Three minutes later, Celtic levelled once again. Larsson took advantage of poor marking when he powerfully headed inAlan Thompson's corner. With Deco remaining a consistent threat,Martin O'Neill brought onJackie McNamara in 76 minutes to nullify Deco's threat. In the 80th minute,Bobo Baldé picked up a yellow card. A couple of minutes from time, McNamara's errant pass found Alenichev, but he could not find the target and shot over.
Normal time ended with the game at 2–2. Extra time would be played under thesilver goal rule, whereby the team leading at the end of the first half of extra time would win the match.
Celtic were reduced to ten men in the 96th minute when Baldé was dismissed after collecting his second yellow card. O'Neill reconfigured his team by moving McNamara back to fill the gap in defence caused by Baldé's dismissal.[11]
The first half of extra time arrived without a change in the score, so thesilver goal rule did not apply.
In the second half of extra time Celtic were unable to hold out for penalties, as Derlei reacted quickest to a Douglas block in the 115th minute and rounded McNamara to make it 3–2. Porto hadNuno Valente sent off in the last minute but no further goals meant that they had ended their 16-year wait for a further European trophy.
        Celtic |      Porto |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: | Match rules
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