On this day in 2003 – Celtic hosted Boavista in the biggest match of the club’s history since the 1970 European Cup final. The Hoops had waited 33 long years to reach a European final again and they were paired with Boavista in the semi final of the UEFA Cup, which gave them every chance of doing so.
Pete St John led the crowd in a rendition of his classic, The Fields Of Athenry, before the match. Yet, famous for its incredible atmosphere, Celtic Park was rather flat during the first leg as nerves got the better of everyone inside the stadium.
Those nerves weren’t helped any further when a blatant penalty was denied to Celtic in the early stages. The Hoops stuttered through the rest of the first half, having the majority of possession but struggling to break the Boavista defence down.
The second half began in nightmare circumstances as Valgaeren sliced a clearance into his own net, which handed the Portuguese side an away goal and aggregate lead. However, Henrik Larsson responded within 60 seconds to level the scoring.
The King was then the villain as he missed a penalty in the 75th minute, meaning the match finished 1-1 and Celtic needed to score in Portugal to avoid elimination.
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