Lambert salutes 'phenomenal' Hoops fans

Paul Lambert claimed today that Celtic’s supporters deserved better than watching their heroes being beaten by Porto in the UEFA Cup final.

The Hoops skipper was unable to add the trophy to his European Cup success with Borussia Dortmund in the Estadio Olimpico last night.

But his thoughts immediately switched to the estimated 70,000 green and white Hoops contingent after suffering a cruel extra-time defeat.

Lambert said: “The fans and the support we had was phenomenal and they didn’t deserve to end up on the losing side.

“We didn’t expect that many fans. I thought it was going to be 50/50 so it is a shame for them, but we gave it everything and we were just unlucky.”

But the Scotland international midfielder was adamant they could not have done any more to win the trophy and can have “no regrets”.

Lambert added: “We gave it everything we had, but unfortunately that wasn’t good enough.

“We came back twice and we held our own and I thought we would even win it when we scored the second time. We were unlucky to go in at the break a goal down.

“They looked dead on their feet in extra-time but we just couldn’t get the goal that would have put us ahead.

“But at the end of it all we can have no regrets. We were in the final and we gave it everything we had. We certainly didn’t disgrace ourselves.”

Lambert also felt sorry for Bobo Balde after he was red carded which he felt he did not warrant after such a brilliant season for the Hoops.

“That’s football,” added the 33-year-old. “We had to go for it, but it was a shame for him because he’s been first class for us this season – one of out top performers.”

Stilian Petrov also reacted gloomily to the defeat and he too felt that Martin O’Neill’s men were robbed of the UEFA Cup trophy.

“It is disappointing to get beat,” said the Bulgarian. “We deserved to be winners.”

O’Neill must now pick his players up for Sunday’s dramatic end of season crunch as they go to Kilmarnock level on points and a goal behind leaders Rangers.

The Celtic players were still visibly stunned as they returned to Glasgow this afternoon, but the midfielder is confident they can recover in time for the trip to Rugby Park.

“We are down now,” sighed Petrov. “But we will come back strongly and try to bounce back on Sunday.

“We made some mistakes which cost us. I still felt we had a good chance to win it, but they are a very good side. We have have to pick ourselves up in the next few days.”