We came and we conquered. Seville had never seen anything like the 75,000 Celtic supporters who invaded their city from Tuesday to Thursday. Everywhere you went there were Bhoys and Ghirls lapping up the Spanish sunshine, drinking the place dry. Though despite the high numbers, Spanish Police made no arrests in the Celtic support.
Seville city centre was like a sea of green and white. We partied all day: we sang, we drank and we had a good time. In our minds, there was no one who was going to beat us. Messages and postcards were sent back to the poor huns in rainy Glasgow, "Have you taped The Bill?" and "Wish you were here!"
The Spanish police seemed content to let us have a good time, but seemed to take no interest in helping out the Celtic fans. One estimated to us that a walk from the city centre to the stadium would be 5 minutes. An hour and a half later, we arrived!
The Olimpico Stadium is magnificent. Looking more like a hotel than a sporting stadium, it is a state of the art place, where around 35,000 Celtic fans descended on.
Once inside the stadium, it was a constant noise. Three Quarters of the stadium were wearing green and white Hoops, and making all the noise. Porto's fans were situated in the South end of the ground - they must have been wondering what had hit them!
The Ketchup Sisters - or whatever they're called - opened the ceremony with their 2002 hit 'The Ketchup Song' - or whatever it's called! The cheesy chorus got the Celtic End singing and dancing, and 'The Fields of Athenry' was played to get the fans going.
The noise when Celtic entered into the Huddle was unbelievable. All the fans were really up for it, and everyone thought we could do it.
Celtic lined up with Rab Douglas in goal, and a back three of Balde, Mjallby and Valgaeren. Thompson, Lennon, Lambert, Petrov and Agathe made up the midfield, and Larsson and Sutton started up-front.
The Hoops started rather nervy, and from the start it was clear Porto were out to cheat and dive as much as they could. It was also clear that we had a weak referee, who was falling for the tricks.
The first half seemed equal, until Celtic were hit with a blow, a minute till half-time. Chaotic defending and poor attempts to clear the ball was picked up on by Porto, who finished past Douglas with ease.
The mood at half time was glum. 0-0 would have been ideal but Porto were the better side in the first half.
However, we were saved, when on 47 minutes, Henrik Larsson swooped on a Didier Agathe cross to score his 200th goal for Celtic.
FC Porto once again took the lead in 53 minutes, when a classy goal was well finished by Alenitchev.
Hitman Henrik, though, showed that Celtic have a great team spirit, powering home a header from Alan Thompson's corner just 3 minutes later. The Celtic support went wild - we knew we could go on and win this cup.
Indeed, Celtic should have capatalised, we had Porto where we wanted them but failed to do anything with it.
So extra time awaited, and during the first period, we were shown how low Porto were willing to stoop to win this match. Throughout the match they had tried to get Bobo Balde sent off, and their wish was granted when the referee outrageously ordered Bobo off the field. TV pictures show he won the ball and didn't deserve to be ordered off.
The best Celtic could now do was to hold on for penalties, but it wasn't to be. Porto scored a third in 115 minutes, and rubbed salt into the wound by taking 90 seconds to celebrate their goal off the park.
It was now a case of 'Let's see who can con the referee the most' for Porto, and their keeper won the award when he appeared to do 4 somersaults when collecting a crossed ball. Disgusting.
Celtic's boos rang so loudly that you could not hear the Porto fans cheering their team's lifting of the trophy. Porto never deserved to win that cup, and if the pick of their league is them and Boavista, I would hate to see the rest.
Martin O'Neill's team done us proud, and a lap of applauding the massive Celtic support was met by rapturous cheers. "Celtic, we love you" was sung endlessly to show our appreciation for the players.
If Balde had stayed on the park, it may have been different. If Hartson had started, it may have been different, but who knows?
One thing I do know, is that the memories Celtic have brought me and all fellow supporters in the UEFA Cup run on 2002/2003, will stay with me forever!
Thank you, Celtic!
Celtic:
Douglas - 7
Balde - 7
Valgaeren - 6 (Laursen ) - 7
Mjallby - 7
Lennon - 8
Lambert - 8 (McNamara) - 7
Petrov - 7 (Maloney) - 7
Thompson - 8
Agathe - 8
Larsson - 9
Sutton - 8
CEltic-Mad Man of the Match: HENRIK LARSSON