Route To The Final
Ipswich Town qualified for the UEFA Cup as a result of finishing third the previous season behind Liverpool and Manchester United. AZ '67 finished the 1979–80 Eredivisie season in second place, three points behind champions AFC Ajax.
Ipswich Town played Greek side Aris Saloniki in the first round of the competition, winning 5–1 at Portman Road and going through 6–4 on aggregate having lost the return leg in Greece 3–1. Two victories over Czechoslovakian club Bohemians in the second round, was followed by a 5–1 aggregate win against Polish team Widzew Łódź. The quarter-finals saw Ipswich face French team Saint-Étienne, who, with Michel Platini, would go on to win the French league that season. An "marvellous" 4–1 victory for the English club in France, followed by a 3–1 home win, knocked out the French team with a 7–2 aggregate victory. Two 1–0 wins over West German club 1. FC Köln saw Ipswich progress to their first European cup final.
AZ started their European campaign with a 10–0 aggregate victory over Luxembourgeois team Red Boys Differdange, which was followed by a 6–1 overall win against Bulgarian club Levski Spartak. The third round ended with a 7–2 aggregate win for the Dutch club over Yugoslav team Radnički Niš; this was followed with a 2–1 overall victory against Belgian club Lokeren. An away 1–1 draw followed by a 3–2 home victory against French club Sochaux, secured AZ '67's passage in the UEFA Cup final.
Read more about this topic: 1981 UEFA Cup Final
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