Big Bad John scored his best goal in a Celtic shirt on this day in 2003 as Celtic defeated Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Today John Hartson shares his memories of that incredible night with Celtic TV which you can enjoy below.

And we’ve also included a snippet from Seville – The Celtic Movement which was compiled and edited by The Celtic Star Editor a decade or so ago. Hope you enjoy…

My Greatest Game with @JohnHartson10 🎥🍀

The Welshman looks back on a historic European night at Anfield #OnThisDay in 2003! 🏟️

📺 Watch now: https://t.co/hjaHtdbZzR
✍️Subscribe now: https://t.co/OEkbxxC5SE #MyGreatestGame | @CelticFC pic.twitter.com/KonxYj128R

— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) March 20, 2024

Celtic v Liverpool (3-1 aggregate)

Another Battle of Britain saw Celtic paired with Liverpool with the first leg again at Celtic Park. There was a now certain expectancy among the Celtic supporters to get through. Celtic started perfectly and found themselves 1-0 up after only 2 minutes thanks to Henrik Larsson.

Liverpool replied though to make it 1-1 just 15 minutes later. This was to be the full time result, but the game was marred by a disgusting act of indecency from El Hadji Diouf when he spat on a Celtic fan. Going into the second leg, it was all in Liverpool’s favour and on paper it was Celtic’s toughest test.

That wasn’t to be the case though as Celtic achieved a very comfortable 2-0 at Anfield. Both goals were superb to top a fantastic victory. A low free kick from Alan Thompson and a wonderful strike from John Hartson were the difference in this game. Celtic went through to the semi-final 3-1 on aggregate. Attendance: Home 59,759. Away 44,238.

Here’s the story of Colin Jordan, who travelled down to the game in Liverpool.

“This Journey to Liverpool started a few weeks prior in Germany. Myself and a few of my friends were sitting in a small Turkish bar after the Stuttgart game talking about the match and who we fancied in the next round. To a man we all said Liverpool. We really fancied our chances especially if we could get Henrik fit.

“We got Liverpool and Henrik was fit for the first leg scoring after two minutes. The experience of the 2nd leg was phenomenal; we travelled early morning on the day of the game arriving in Liverpool around about 12pm. It was full of Celtic fans singing songs and mixing with Liverpool fans in pubs, all getting on really well.

“We went to a Liverpool social club, which was full of Liverpool fans. It was great, the Liverpool fans were very welcoming, telling us how we were going to get beat easily off the mighty Liverpool. But we remained confident.

“We got a taxi about 40 minutes before kick off and asked the driver to put some Celtic tunes on so that we were set for the game. We went back to the same social club after the game but it wasn’t as busy, I don’t know why!

“The fans we met after the game were either jubilant Celtic fans who decided they were just going to stay a night in Liverpool to go out and celebrate ie no hotel, hardly any money, just determined to enjoy themselves, or Liverpool fans who couldn’t believe the mighty Liverpool had lost at the famous Anfield. To their credit they did congratulate us and wished us well in the semi-finals.”

Up against one of Europe’s most successful clubs, this proved a stroll in the park in the end. An away goal however for Liverpool had us thinking the worst. At Anfield, Liverpool were clear favourites, but they fell short of expectations when Celtic eased to a 2-0 victory. Watching the game it was just brilliant to see those wonderful goals for Celtic. Big Bad John scored his best ever goal for Celtic that night. Celtic were through to the semi-final, who’d have thought it?