There was domestic success for Ipswich in the 1977–78 English football season as they won the FA Cup Final against Arsenal to qualify for the 1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup, their first appearance in the competition. The club was drawn against Dutch team AZ 67 Alkmaar in the two-legged first round. The first leg finished goalless, while the second leg ended 2–0 at Portman Road to Ipswich with an early goal from Paul Mariner and a late penalty from John Wark. The second round opponents were Austrian club FC Wacker Innsbruck who Ipswich faced at home in October 1978. A match which Ipswich dominated ended just 1–0 with the sole goal coming from a penalty converted by Wark. The second leg was a bad-tempered match, and after Innsbruck had equalised the tie, Mariner was sent off for a bad foul and four other Ipswich players were booked. With the tie 1–1 on aggregate, the match entered extra time, in which George Burley scored with ten minutes to go to seal Ipswich's passage to the third round where they would face Barcelona for the second year in Europe. Ipswich went into the match without regular forwards Mariner (through suspension) and Woods (through illness), but took the lead early in the second half with a goal from Gates. Barcelona responded immediately to equalise through Esteban Vigo before Gates scored his second to end the match 2–1 to Ipswich. The second leg, in the Camp Nou, was played in front a crowd of 110,000, and took receipts of £425,000 () – a Spanish football record. A first half strike from Argentine Juan Carlos Heredia was the only goal of the game, and the tie ended 2–2 on aggregate, Ipswich going out to Barcelona again, this time on away goals.