On 21st May I was lucky enough to have a ticket for the football UEFA Cup Final, which was played in the Olympic Stadium.

For days leading up to the game the city was invaded by a growing army arriving from Scotland in the form of the Glasgow Celtic football fans. All too often football fans (in the case of the UK they are usually English, it has to be said) get a bad press because of the actions of a minority . On this occasion, the city paid tribute to the visiting hordes, estimated on match day to number up to 80,000 from Scotland and a further 20,000 from Porto, Cerltic's Portuguese rivals in the final.

Police, bar owners (in particular!) hoteliers, shopkeepers and the Sevilla population in general had nothing but praise for the boisterous - to say the least - behaviour of the Celts. They partied for days on end, thousands sleeping rough because all the accommodation went long ago. No trouble, no fighting. Just a huge coming together of two sets of supporters who swapped flags, shirts, scarves and bought each other drinks, trading banter with each other, whilst attempting to empty the Cruzcampo brewery of all stocks.

It was a brilliant day, although my heart went out to the brave souls who were visiting the city in the form of tourists, who must have been shocked by what was going on!! They must have been intimidated at first, then relaxed and enjoyed the incredible atmosphere. I hope the pics have captured a bit of that atmosphere, although it has to be said that the photographer, while trying to dodge the searing heat that day, had to consume copious amounts of liquid to stave off heat exhaustion.... that's my story anyway!!

Bars closed early, not because of licencing laws or signs of trouble, but when you have no beer, whiskey, vodka etc it is difficult to oblige the masses!! These kilted chaps can certainly drink!!

The only downer (unless you were Portuguese, was the result, Celtic losing 3-2 after extra time.

Anyway, here's a glimpse of what Sevilla looked like on that fateful day. There are two small albums here and here (By the way, the author is wearing a green and white shirt!)

As a regular visitor to Seville I too wondered what the city would make of 60,000 tims descending upon it but it's something that will stay with me forever, the sheer camaraderie between fans, the singing and the friendlyness of everyone and the disbelief of bar owners when celts wanted tomato ketchup on jamon serrano was brilliant.Seville welcomed the celts and this will not be forgotten.Hail hail

I arrived in Sevilla on the 2nd and the city was infested with escoceses. They were EVERYWHERE!! My friend Carmen works for the Ayuntamiento de Sevilla and she said when she would arrive at work at 8am, they'd be sleeping in the grass outside her office!! She went to breakfast one morning and the bartender told her in amazement that it was only 9am and he had already pulled 50+ beers for them. I saw them in their green and white striped shirts in Sevilla, Ronda, Caceres, Torremolinos, and Benalmádena. Didn't see any Portugueses (the winners).

Winston

Good to see the Celtic fans behaved themselves and didn't shock the Sevillians too much. Scots just love a good drink (I'm Scottish myself) but do seem to be able to retain their good humour when abroad even when bevvied up: . Liked the pics!

The Sevillanos loved them, Bri .... I think a lot of the businessmen would like them back every couple of month or so!

For anyone who knows Flaherty's Irish pub in the street alongside the cathedral they will know that they serve a fair amount of booze on a Friday or Saturday night. I read that they sold more beer in two days than they normally do in one month! It took us about five minutes to go past the bar because the street and pavements were wall to wall green and white hoops!

You can see what the Sevilla locals thought of it all here http://www.sol.com/fotos/index.htm

I must say that we are still talking about the day we enjoyed two weeks on from the game! Sevilla will seem very tame the next time we visit!

Thanks for the link to the pics! Gosh, I see there were quite a few kilts being worn on that day. It's great that football fans can get together and have a good time without causing trouble.

I was there also. I saw all the fans. I used to live in plaza san francisco. I am now living in madrid for two months. The scots were great. by the way I could kick myself for not getting the celt porto t shirts. Do you know where I can get one in sevilla. I wil probably go back there for a few days.

Anchovy,

Great pics. It looks like everyone had a good time. Was it my imagination, or did Mrs. Anchovy use the digital software to get the "red out" of your eyes towards the end of the day? I know that wasn't the same mug of beer you were drinking at the beginning as at the end - - -

I do apologize! I figured you'd be taking the pics while laying on a surfboard after having too much to drink, and being carted around by friends. I thought we'd just see rooftops, and people's faces peering down at you, wondering if you were still alive.....

Now, as for kilts, where were yours? If MadridMan can go shirtless, you can at least let your boney knees show, don't you think?

Wolf (Who enjoyed all "four" of your pic areas. Cool house dude!)

Great post Anchovy, what an experience sevilla was, we are still talking about it, and I tell you what, if only we had won that game there would still be some of us in sunny sevilla also i have to give a special mention the the people of Sevilla they were fantastic they made us more than welcome, and although we never won that game, a great friendship was born between Glasgow and Sevilla p.s. its also worth noting that there was not one single arrest on the day of the game, thats something considering there were 80,000 celtic fans alone.