PAUL LAMBERT has revealed his one big career regret is failing to lift the UEFA Cup with Celtic in 2003.
Despite an awe-inspiring display by Super Swede Henrik Larsson the Glasgow side agonisingly lost 3-2 to Jose Mourinho's Porto in the final in Seville.
Celtic took some 80,000 supporters to Spain for the showpiece but in the searing heat, Martin O'Neill's 10-men finally succumbed in extra time to the Portuguese outfit who went on to lift the Champions League the following season.
The defeat also robbed Lambert of the chance to possess two cherished European football winners medals after he had already captured the Champions League crown with Borussia Dortmund in 1997.
The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder said: "The only regret in my career is not winning the UEFA Cup with Celtic.
"I would love to have won the two European medals.
"I have the big one from my days at Borussia Dortmund but to have completed the set of winning the two main European medals would have been a wonderful career achievement.
"That would have been brilliant.
"It is my biggest regret in football not winning the UEFA cup for Celtic that night in Seville.
"I don't have too many regrets other than that.
"Celtic just fell short in the UEFA cup final and you have to give Porto credit as they did a job on us.
"We needed a wee bit of luck and we could have played a wee bit better than we did as a team on the night.
"Henrik Larsson's goals on the night were brilliant but ultimately we just fell short of becoming another Celtic European trophy-winning side."
Meanwhile, Lambert insists that it is an impossible task to compare Ottmar Hitzfeld's Borussia Dortmund class of 1996/97 and Martin O'Neill's Celtic class of 2002/03.
When asked which team would triumph if both were to go head-to-head, the 52-year-old said: "I have been asked many times how Martin O'Neill's Celtic UEFA Cup final side 2003 would fare against Ottmar Hitzfeld Borussia Dortmund's successful Champions League team of 1997.
"The answer is it would be a bloody close-run thing.
"It is really hard to explain what that Borussia Dortmund team were like.
"That Borussia Dortmund team were so good.
"My answer to the question is always that Celtic and Borussia Dortmund were two good teams to play with.
"I had the pleasure of playing for those two great clubs who have a wonderful affiliation with each other.
"One reached the ultimate pinnacle of what can be achieved in European football with an incredible side.
"One fell short of being a UEFA cup winning side.
"The best way I could put it is this: Borussia Dortmund were a special team. Celtic was a great team."
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