Middlesbrough: BBC Radio Tees looks back at Boro’s UEFA Cup adventures

The man who brought these players to the Riverside was McClaren, who said he had an amazing five years on Teesside after being sold on Steve Gibson’s vision.

“The goal was to win a trophy, we’d done that, I just felt the next season I needed more firepower and a bigger squad,” McClaren said.

“We wanted to go further into cups, do well in the league and not just make it a one-season wonder.”

McClaren said the 2-0 group-stage win over Lazio in their first campaign was a key moment, adding: “That was it, that’s what being in Europe is all about, it’s different to beating the Arsenals or Manchester Uniteds at the Riverside.”

With an abundance of attacking talent at his disposal, McClaren had sent striker Massimo Maccarone out on loan in 2004-05 after the Italian struggled to make an impact after joining from Empoli two years earlier.

McClaren planned to loan him out again in 2005, with Hasselbaink, Viduka and Yakubu all ahead of him in the pecking order, but Maccarone told BBC Radio Tees: “I said I want to stay, I want to try to find my space. I worked hard every day, you have to show the coach and everybody you can play.”

Maccarone was limited to just six starts and 16 sub appearances across the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup, scoring twice, but wrote his name into Uefa Cup folklore when he replaced Franck Queudrue 23 minutes from time in the quarter-final second leg against Basel, with the Swiss side leading 3-2 on aggregate.

Hasselbaink scored 11 minutes from time before Maccarone squeezed home the winner in the last seconds, sparking wild celebrations and the iconic removal of his Boro shirt.

“This game changed the opinion of McClaren for me going forwards. You have to be lucky sometimes,” Maccarone added.

“This was an important goal, inside me was six or seven months of not playing a lot, it was emotion.

“It’s not easy training every day then going to the stands or the bench on a Saturday.”

Boro also slipped 3-0 down on aggregate in the semi-final against Steaua Bucharest before Maccarone replaced Gareth Southgate inside half-an-hour and started the comeback with an angled strike.

“I believed it could still be done,” Maccarone said.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable, and because of the Basel game we knew it was possible.”

Viduka and Chris Riggott levelled the tie then, with a minute remaining, Stewart Downing’s cross from the left was powered home by Maccarone’s diving header.

He said: “It’s something you can’t describe. It’s hard to understand. I just put my head like Superman. You have to believe.

“I haven’t never felt anything like that moment since. Against Basel some people left the stadium with 20 minutes to go. Against Steaua nobody left. Everybody believed we could do it, and we did.”

Maccarone recalled popping champagne after the game and being told by Hasselbaink he would be loved forever.

“That’s the best night of my life,” Maccarone said: “I’ll never forget it. Sometimes I still go to YouTube to watch it. Not just for my goal but the atmosphere. It was a magical night.

“When I went back to the Riverside last year it was fantastic – the people treated me like a hero. That was very emotional to me.”

The magic ran out as Sevilla proved too tough in the final in Eindhoven, but despite the pain of defeat, Maccarone added: “It’s football. We played a good team. In the moment you are very disappointed but now you look back, it’s a good memory, history for the club.”