 Each club needed to progress through four rounds to reach the final. Matches were contested over two legs, with a match at each team's home ground. Liverpool's matches ties ranged from close affairs to comfortable victories. They beat Athletic Bilbao by a single goal in the second round, while they beat Benfica 5 – 1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. Roma's matches were all close affairs, winning their ties up to the semi-final by two goal margins. They beat Dundee United 3 – 2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, although it was later revealed that Roma had bribed the referee in the second leg of the semi-final. This meant that two British clubs were denied finals of European cup competitions that year after Nottingham Forest were knocked out by Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup semi-finals after Anderlect had bribed the ref.
