Joe Mourinho is in his sixth European Final as a manager this evening as Roma face Seville in Budapest. The Portuguese coach has enjoyed success at every club that he has been at, apart from Tottenham Hotspur, and in the match this evening, an incredible stat emerged regarding Celtic.
The only goals that Mourinho had conceded in a European Final was Henrik Larsson’s brace on that agonising night in Seville. Since then, Mourinho has defeated Monaco (3-0) in the Champions League with Porto, Bayern with Inter (0-2), Ajax with Man Utd (0-2) and Feyenoord (1-0) with Roma.
This stat lasted twenty years before this evening’s game where a Mancini own-goal in the 55th minute saw Roma pulled back level. The game is now creeping towards penalties as Mourinho looks to continue his 100% success rate in finals.
Celtic were defeated after extra-time as Mourinho’s Porto capitalised on the man advantage following Bobo Balde’s red card. The defeat was compounded by the antics of the Porto players, who were play-acting at any opportunity.
It was a painful defeat but the tens of thousands of Celtic fans that travelled to Spain that day back in 2003 left with the acclaim of the game.