But take a look at the current squad and you will find no less than a dozen players who have experience in the Champions League or UEFA Cup. Gaizka Mendieta and Ray Parlour have played almost 100 games in Europe between them.
Mendieta played in two Champions League Finals for Valencia, in 2000 and 2001, sadly he was on the losing side both times, against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but he did score in the second game against Bayern Munich. He has also played games for Barcelona and Lazio in the UEFA Cup and Champions League.
Parlour has also been on the losing side, in a European final, on two occasions. Initially he was in the Arsenal side that lost to Real Zaragoza in the 1995 European Cup Winners’ Cup (remember Nayim from the half-way line) and more recently he was on the losing side against Galatasaray in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final.
The full list of Boro squad players to play in Europe is as follows:
George Boateng – UEFA Cup/Intertoto Cup – Aston Villa
Colin Cooper - UEFA Cup - Nottingham Forest
Doriva – UEFA Cup – Celta Vigo
Ugo Ehiogu – UEFA Cup – Aston Villa
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – Champions League/UEFA Cup – Leeds/Chelsea
Joseph-Desire Job – UEFA Cup - Lens
Gaizka Mendieta – Champions League/UEFA Cup – Valencia/Lazio/Barcelona
Szilard Nemeth – UEFA Cup – Slovan Bratislava/Kosice/Inter Bratislava
Ray Parlour – Champions League/UEFA Cup/Cup Winners’ Cup – Arsenal
Franck Queudrue – UEFA Cup – Lens
Michael Reiziger – Champions League/UEFA Cup – AC Milan/Barcelona
Gareth Southgate – UEFA Cup – Aston Villa
Mark Viduka – Champions League/UEFA Cup – Dynamo Zagreb/Celtic/Leeds
Mark Wilson - Champions League - Man Utd
Bolo Zenden – Champions League/UEFA Cup – Barcelona/Chelsea