Champions Liverpool (3rd title) Champion Liverpool F.C. Teams 33 Matches played 63 | Runners-up Real Madrid Dates 16 Aug 1980 – 27 May 1981 Goals scored 166 | |
 | ||
Top scorer(s) Terry McDermott
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Graeme Souness
(6 goals each) Similar 1961–62 European Cup, 1972–73 European Cup, 1968–69 European Cup, 1981 European Cup Final, 1966–67 European Cup | ||
The 1980–81 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool in the final against Real Madrid. In the 11 seasons up to and including this one, there were only four winners of the European Cup (Ajax, Bayern Munich, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool), but there were eleven different runners-up. This record would have continued into the next year as well, but Bayern lost to first-time finalists Aston Villa.
Contents
Nottingham Forest, the defending champions, were eliminated by CSKA Sofia in the first round.
Second leg
Budapest Honvéd won 11–0 on aggregate.
Second leg
Aberdeen won 1–0 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 11–2 on aggregate.
CSKA Sofia won 2–0 on aggregate.
Szombierki Bytom won 4–2 on aggregate.
Bayern Munich won 7–2 on aggregate.
Ajax won 3–0 on aggregate.
Baník Ostrava won 2–1 on aggregate.
Dynamo Berlin won 4–2 on aggregate.
Spartak Moscow won 9–0 on aggregate.
Esbjerg won 3–2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 7–2 on aggregate.
Budapest Honvéd won 3–0 on aggregate.
Nantes won 3–0 on aggregate.
Internazionale won 3–1 on aggregate.
Basel won 5–1 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 7–3 on aggregate.
Second leg
Liverpool won 5–0 on aggregate.
CSKA Sofia won 5–0 on aggregate.
Bayern Munich won 6–3 on aggregate.
Baník Ostrava 1–1 Dynamo Berlin on aggregate. Baník Ostrava won on away goals.
Spartak Moscow won 3–2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 3–0 on aggregate.
Internazionale won 3–2 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 2–1 on aggregate.
Second leg
Liverpool won 6–1 on aggregate.
Bayern Munich won 6–2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 2–0 on aggregate.
Internazionale won 2–1 on aggregate.
Second leg
Liverpool 1–1 Bayern Munich on aggregate. Liverpool won on away goals.
Real Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.
Top scorers
The top scorers from the 1980–81 European Cup are as follows: