 Liverpool's opponents in the quarter-finals were the previous year's beaten finalists Saint-Étienne of France. The first leg was at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. As in the previous round Liverpool lost the away leg 1 – 0. The return leg at Anfield is considered one of Liverpool's most memorable European matches. Liverpool scored in the second minute of the match through Kevin Keegan to level the tie. Early in the second half Saint-Étienne equalised through Dominique Bathenay. The goal meant that the tie was 2 – 1 in the French team's favour and due to the away goals rule, Liverpool needed to score two goals to progress to the semi-finals. Liverpool scored again midway through the second half to make the 2 – 2 on aggregate. With 18 minutes remaining David Fairclough replaced John Toshack. After 12 minutes on the pitch, the "supersub" had struck ... again. Liverpool went on to win the match 3 – 1 and the tie 3 – 2 to progress to semi-finals. Liverpool's opponents in the semi-finals were Swiss champions FC Zürich. The first leg at the Letzigrund was won 3 – 1 by Liverpool, after they had initially gone a goal behind. Liverpool won the second leg at Anfield 3 – 0 to win the tie 6 – 1 on aggregate and ensure their participation in the final.
