1968–69 European Cup

The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by AC Milan, who beat Ajax 4–1 in the final, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of Eastern Bloc clubs withdrew from the first two rounds when UEFA paired up all of the Eastern Bloc clubs against one another in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

1968–69 European Cup

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	18 September 1968 – 28 May 1969
Teams	32 (27 competed)
Final positions
Champions	AC Milan (2nd title)
Runners-up	Ajax
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	176 (3.38 per match)
Attendance	1,738,847 (33,439 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Denis Law (Manchester United) 9 goals
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

Substitutions of two players at any game time were allowed; obligatory match dates were introduced (two weeks between the legs) and fixed on Wednesdays; the away goal rule was extended to the first and second rounds.^[1]

Manchester United were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual champions Milan in the semi-finals.

Teams

A total of 32 teams participated in the competition.

Thirty-one leagues were represented, with England being represented by its most recent champion, Manchester City, as well as defending European champion, Manchester United.

Real Madrid made their 14th consecutive appearance in the competition, while Anderlecht and Benfica each made their ninth appearances. Nürnberg and Steaua București both made their first appearances in the competition since the 1961-62 European Cup.

This year's competition included only five debutants: Denmark's AB, Cyprus's AEL Limassol, England's Manchester City, Norway's Rosenborg, and Czechoslovakia's Spartak Trnava. This was the smallest number to date.

Rapid Wien (1st)	Anderlecht (1st)	Levski-Spartak (1st)	AEL Limassol (1st)
Spartak Trnava (1st)	AB (1st)	Manchester City (1st)	Manchester United (2nd)TH
Reipas Lahti (1st)	Saint-Étienne (1st)	Carl Zeiss Jena (1st)	Nürnberg (1st)
AEK Athens (1st)	Ferencváros (1st)	Valur (1st)	Waterford (1st)
Milan (1st)	Jeunesse Esch (1st)	Floriana (1st)	Ajax (1st)
Glentoran (1st)	Rosenborg (1st)	Ruch Chorzów (1st)	Benfica (1st)
Steaua București (1st)	Celtic (1st)	Real Madrid (1st)	Malmö FF (1st)
Zürich (1st)	Fenerbahçe (1st)	Dynamo Kyiv (1st)	Red Star Belgrade (1st)

Bracket

	First round						Second round						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Malmö FF	2	1	3
	Milan	1	4	5
							Milan			Bye
	Dynamo Kyiv			(w)
	Ruch Chorzów			(o)
													Milan	0	1	1
													Celtic	0	0	0
	Saint-Étienne	2	0	2
	Celtic	0	4	4
							Celtic	5	1	6
							Red Star Belgrade	1	1	2
	Red Star Belgrade			(w)
	Carl Zeiss Jena			(o)
																			Milan	2	0	2
																			Manchester United	0	1	1
	Waterford	1	1	2
	Manchester United	3	7	10
							Manchester United	3	1	4
							Anderlecht	0	3	3
	Anderlecht	3	2	5
	Glentoran	0	2	2
													Manchester United	3	0	3
													Rapid Wien	0	0	0
	Rosenborg	1	3	4
	Rapid Wien	3	3	6
							Rapid Wien	1	1	2
							Real Madrid	0	2	2
	Real Madrid	6	6	12
	AEL Limassol	0	0	0
																									Milan	4
																									Ajax	1
	Nurnberg	1	0	1
	Ajax	1	4	5
							Ajax	2	2	4
							Fenerbahçe	0	0	0
	Manchester City	0	1	1
	Fenerbahçe	0	2	2
													Ajax	1	3	4 (3)
													Benfica	3	1	4 (0)
	Valur	0	1	1
	Benfica	0	8	8
							Benfica			Bye
	Levski Sofia			(w)
	Ferencváros			(o)
																			Ajax	3	0	3
																			Spartak Trnava	0	2	2
	Floriana	1	0	1
	Reipas Lahti	1	2	3
							Reipas Lahti	1	1	2
							Spartak Trnava	9	7	16
	Steaua București	3	0	3
	Spartak Trnava	1	4	5
													Spartak Trnava	2	1	3
													AEK Athens	1	1	2
	AEK Athens	3	2	5
	Jeunesse Esch	0	3	3
							AEK Athens	0	2	2
							AB	0	0	0
	Zürich	1	2	3
	AB	3	1	4

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Malmö FF	3–5	Milan	2–1	1–4
Dynamo Kyiv	(w/o)	Ruch Chorzów	–	–
Saint-Étienne	2–4	Celtic	2–0	0–4
Red Star Belgrade	(w/o)	Carl Zeiss Jena	–	–
Waterford	2–10	Manchester United	1–3	1–7
Anderlecht	5–2	Glentoran	3–0	2–2
Rosenborg	4–6	Rapid Wien	1–3	3–3
Real Madrid	12–0	AEL Limassol	6–0	6–0
Nürnberg	1–5	Ajax	1–1	0–4
Manchester City	1–2	Fenerbahçe	0–0	1–2
Valur	1–8	Benfica	0–0	1–8
Levski-Spartak	(w/o)	Ferencváros	–	–
Floriana	1–3	Reipas Lahti	1–1	0–2
Steaua București	3–5	Spartak Trnava	3–1	0–4
AEK Athens	5–3	Jeunesse Esch	3–0	2–3
Zürich	3–4	AB	1–3	2–1

First leg

18 September 1968

Malmö FF	2–1	Milan
Olsberg 45' Elmstedt 50'	Report	Rivera 58'

Malmö Stadion, Malmö

Attendance: 23,118

Referee: Heinz Siebert (West Germany)

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18 September 1968

Saint-Étienne	2–0	Celtic
Keïta 15' H. Revelli 36'	Report

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne

Attendance: 34,403

Referee: Aníbal da Silva Oliveira (Portugal)

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18 September 1968

Waterford	1–3	Manchester United
Matthews 65'	Report	Law 8', 41', 55'

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 48,886

Referee: William Joseph Mullen (Scotland)

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18 September 1968

Anderlecht	3–0	Glentoran
Bergholtz 18' Peeters 23' Nordahl 87'	Report

Émile Versé Stadium, Anderlecht

Attendance: 18,963

Referee: Bruno de Marchi (Italy)

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18 September 1968

Rosenborg	1–3	Rapid Wien
Iversen 16'	Report	Bjerregaard 28' Kaltenbrunner 65' Grausam 86'

Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim

Attendance: 22,321

Referee: Kevin Howley (England)

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18 September 1968

Real Madrid	6–0	AEL Limassol
Pirri 10', 14', 63' Amancio 17' Pérez 27' Bueno 75'	Report

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

Attendance: 15,995

Referee: William Gow (Wales)

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18 September 1968

Nürnberg	1–1	Ajax
Volkert 6'	Report	Cruyff 80'

Städtisches Stadion, Nuremberg

Attendance: 45,090^[2]

Referee: Gilbert Droz (Switzerland)

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18 September 1968

Manchester City	0–0	Fenerbahçe
	Report

Maine Road, Manchester

Attendance: 38,840

Referee: Laurens van Ravens (Netherlands)

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18 September 1968

Valur	0–0	Benfica
	Report

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 18,243

Referee: Patrick Graham (Republic of Ireland)

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18 September 1968

Floriana	1–1	Reipas Lahti
Galea 37' (pen.)	Report	Aalto 28'

Empire Stadium, Gżira

Attendance: 10,162

Referee: Jim Finney (England)

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18 September 1968

Steaua București	3–1	Spartak Trnava
Creiniceanu 18' Voinea 30' Constantin 51'	Report	Kuna 75'

23 August Stadium, Bucharest

Attendance: 3,227^[3]

Referee: Christos Michas (Greece)

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18 September 1968

AEK Athens	3–0	Jeunesse Esch
Papaioannou 27' Papageorgiou 58' Karafeskos 60' (pen.)	Report

AEK Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 16,205

Referee: Fabio Monti (Italy)

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18 September 1968

Zürich	1–3	AB
Winiger 50'	Report	Hansen 22' Wiberg 25' Petersen 62'

Letzigrund, Zürich

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: Juan Gardeazábal Garay (Spain)

Second leg

2 October 1968

Milan	4–1	Malmö FF
Prati 32', 69' Sormani 62' Rivera 88'	Report	Ljungberg 16'

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 61,932

Referee: Roger Mâchin (France)

Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Celtic	4–0	Saint-Étienne
Gemmell 44' (pen.) Craig 59' Chalmers 66' McBride 87'	Report

Celtic Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 73,059

Referee: Zdeněk Valeš (Czechoslovakia)

Celtic won 4–2 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Manchester United	7–1	Waterford
Stiles 37' Law 41', 47', 60', 71' Burns 68' Charlton 84'	Report	Casey 69'

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 41,750

Referee: Joaquim Fernandes Campos (Portugal)

Manchester United won 10–2 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Glentoran	2–2	Anderlecht
Morrow 27' Johnston 55'	Report	Devrindt 24' Bergholtz 58'

The Oval, Belfast

Attendance: 12,384

Referee: Jacques Colling (Luxembourg)

Anderlecht won 5–2 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Rapid Wien	3–3	Rosenborg
Lindman 10', 80' Kaltenbrunner 17'	Report	Iversen 21', 34', 87'

Praterstadion, Vienna

Attendance: 1,570

Referee: Andreas Kouniaides (Cyprus)

Rapid Wien won 6–4 on aggregate.

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26 September 1968

AEL Limassol	0–6	Real Madrid
	Report	Velázquez 7', 10' José Luis 9' Veloso 84' Ortega 86' Zunzunegui 87'

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

Attendance: 20,075

Referee: Aníbal da Silva Oliveira (Portugal)

Real Madrid won 12–0 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Ajax	4–0	Nürnberg
Swart 22', 51' Groot 86' (pen.) Cruyff 89'	Report

Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam

Attendance: 54,579

Referee: John Adair (Northern Ireland)

Ajax won 5–1 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Fenerbahçe	2–1	Manchester City
Çevrim 48' Altıparmak 76'	Report	Coleman 11'

Mithat Paşa Stadyumu, Istanbul

Attendance: 42,570

Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Benfica	8–1	Valur
Simões 4' Jacinto 7' Torres 11', 47', 79' Eusébio 20' Coluna 27' José Augusto 48'	Report	Gunnarsson 68'

Estádio da Luz, Lisbon

Attendance: 24,389

Referee: Joseph Cassar-Naudi (Malta)

Benfica won 8–1 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Reipas Lahti	2–0	Floriana
Holtari 56' (57)	Report

Olympia Stadium, Helsinki

Attendance: 2,212

Referee: Curt Nystrand (Sweden)

Reipas Lahti won 3–1 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Spartak Trnava	4–0	Steaua București
Švec 4' Adamec 58', 76', 80'	Report

Spartak Stadium, Trnava

Attendance: 11,879

Referee: Rudolf Scheurer (Switzerland)

Spartak Trnava won 5–3 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

Jeunesse Esch	3–2	AEK Athens
Hoffmann 6' Drouet 40' Langer 77'	Report	Ventouris 16', 33'

Stade de la Frontière, Esch-sur-Alzette

Attendance: 3,213

Referee: Joseph Hannet (Belgium)

AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.

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2 October 1968

AB	1–2	Zürich
Petersen 53'	Report	Künzli 42', 80'

Københavns Idrætapark, Copenhagen

Attendance: 9,557

Referee: Malcolm Wright (Northern Ireland)

AB won 4–3 on aggregate.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Milan	Bye	–	–	–
Celtic	6–2	Red Star Belgrade	5–1	1–1
Manchester United	4–3	Anderlecht	3–0	1–3
Rapid Wien	2–2 (a)	Real Madrid	1–0	1–2
Ajax	4–0	Fenerbahçe	2–0	2–0
Benfica	Bye	–	–	–
Reipas Lahti	2–16	Spartak Trnava	1–9	1–7
AEK Athens	2–0	AB	0–0	2–0

First leg

13 November 1968

Celtic	5–1	Red Star Belgrade
Murdoch 3' Johnstone 46', 81' Lennox 48' Wallace 74'	Report	Lazarević 39'

Celtic Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 65,248

Referee: Alfred Ott (West Germany)

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13 November 1968

Manchester United	3–0	Anderlecht
Kidd 52' Law 70', 78'	Report

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 51,008^[4]

Referee: Aníbal da Silva Oliveira (Portugal)

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20 November 1968

Rapid Wien	1–0	Real Madrid
Kaltenbrunner 55'	Report

Praterstadion, Vienna

Attendance: 44,799^[5]

Referee: Josip Drago Horvat (Yugoslavia)

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13 November 1968

Ajax	2–0	Fenerbahçe
Nuninga 14' Muller 74'	Report

Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam

Attendance: 54,812

Referee: Eric Jennings (England)

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20 November 1968

Reipas Lahti	1–9	Spartak Trnava
Hyvärinen 88'	Report	Hagara 14' Kabát 20', 80' Švec 23', 61' Kuna 52' Martinkovič 57', 65' Adamec 64'

Praterstadion, Vienna^[6]

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Paul Schiller (Austria)

The home leg of Reipas Lahti was played in Vienna just before the Rapid Wien–Real Madrid match.^[7]

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13 November 1968

AEK Athens	0–0	AB
	Report

AEK Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 8,161

Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

Second leg

27 November 1968

Red Star Belgrade	1–1	Celtic
Ostojić 90'	Report	Wallace 72'

Red Star Stadium, Belgrade

Attendance: 17,625

Referee: Francesco Francescon (Italy)

Celtic won 6–2 on aggregate.

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27 November 1968

Anderlecht	3–1	Manchester United
Mulder 18' Bergholtz 38', 78'	Report	Sartori 8'

Émile Versé Stadium, Brussels

Attendance: 32,572

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.

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4 December 1968

Real Madrid	2–1	Rapid Wien
Velázquez 41' Pirri 83'	Report	Bjerregaard 48'

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

Attendance: 39,228^[8]

Referee: Gilbert Droz (Switzerland)

Rapid Wien won 2–2 on away goals.

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27 November 1968

Fenerbahçe	0–2	Ajax
	Report	Keizer 55' Nuninga 88'

Mithat Paşa Stadyumu, Istanbul

Attendance: 33,863

Referee: Iosif Ritter (Romania)

Ajax won 4–0 on aggregate.

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27 November 1968

Spartak Trnava	7–1	Reipas Lahti
Hagara 15' Dobiaš 20', 49' (pen.), 64' Kuna 27' Adamec 37' Hrušecký 53'	Report	Niskakoski 75'

Spartak Stadium, Trnava

Attendance: 5,766

Referee: Laurens van Ravens (Netherlands)

Spartak Trnava won 16–2 on aggregate.

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27 November 1968

AB	0–2	AEK Athens
	Report	Stamatiadis 25' Papaioannou 81'

Københavns Idrætspark, Copenhagen

Attendance: 11,471

Referee: Robert Holley Davidson (Scotland)

AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-off
Milan	1–0	Celtic	0–0	1–0
Manchester United	3–0	Rapid Wien	3–0	0–0
Ajax	4–4	Benfica	1–3	3–1	3–0
Spartak Trnava	3–2	AEK Athens	2–1	1–1

First leg

19 February 1969

Milan	0–0	Celtic
	Report

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 63,538

Referee: Kurt Waldemar Tschenscher (West Germany)

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26 February 1969

Manchester United	3–0	Rapid Wien
Best 44', 70' Morgan 70'	Report

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 62,726

Referee: Božidar Botić (Yugoslavia)

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12 February 1969

Ajax	1–3	Benfica
Danielsson 48'	Report	Santos 31' (pen.) Torres 36' José Augusto 61'

Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam

Attendance: 55,150

Referee: Robert Holley Davidson (Scotland)

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26 February 1969

16:30 EET

Spartak Trnava	2–1	AEK Athens
Jarábek 25' Kabát 44'	Report	Sevastopoulos 60'

Spartak Stadium, Trnava

Attendance: 10,747

Referee: Gilbert Droz (Switzerland)

Second leg

12 March 1969

Celtic	0–1	Milan
	Report	Prati 12'

Celtic Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 76,415

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.

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5 March 1969

Rapid Wien	0–0	Manchester United
	Report

Praterstadion, Vienna

Attendance: 50,234

Referee: Laurens van Ravens (Netherlands)

Manchester United won 3–0 on aggregate.

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19 February 1969

Benfica	1–3	Ajax
Torres 70'	Report	Danielsson 9' Cruyff 12', 32'

Estádio da Luz, Lisbon

Attendance: 31,019^[9]

Referee: Antonio Sbardella (Italy)

4–4 on aggregate. Tie is decided by a tie-breaker match on neutral ground.

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12 March 1969

AEK Athens	1–1	Spartak Trnava
Papaioannou 77'	Report	Švec 23'

AEK Stadium, Athens

Attendance: 29,842

Referee: Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)

Spartak Trnava won 3–2 on aggregate.

Tie-breakers

5 March 1969

Ajax	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Benfica
Cruyff 93' Danielsson 105', 108'	Report

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris

Attendance: 63,638

Referee: Roger Mâchin (France)

Ajax win the tie-breaker.

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Milan	2–1	Manchester United	2–0	0–1
Ajax	3–2	Spartak Trnava	3–0	0–2

First leg

23 April 1969

Milan	2–0	Manchester United
Sormani 33' Hamrin 49'	Report

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 80,050

Referee: Josef Krnávek (Czechoslovakia)

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13 April 1969

Ajax	3–0	Spartak Trnava
Cruyff 27' Swart 52' Keizer 60'	Report

Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam

Attendance: 55,490

Referee: Eric Jennings (England)

Second leg

15 May 1969

Manchester United	1–0	Milan
Charlton 70'	Report

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 63,103

Referee: Roger Mâchin (France)

Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.

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24 April 1969

Spartak Trnava	2–0	Ajax
Kuna 27', 49'	Report

Spartak Stadium, Trnava

Attendance: 22,938

Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1969 European Cup Final

28 May 1969

Milan	4–1	Ajax
Prati 7', 40', 75' Sormani 67'	Report	Vasović 60' (pen.)

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

Attendance: 31,782

Referee: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Spain)

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1968–69 European Cup are as follows:

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Denis Law	Manchester United	9
2	Johan Cruyff	Ajax	6
	Pierino Prati	Milan	6
4	Jozef Adamec	Spartak Trnava	5
	Ladislav Kuna	Spartak Trnava	5
	José Augusto Torres	Benfica	5
7	Gerard Bergholtz	Anderlecht	4
	Inge Danielsson	Ajax	4
	Odd Iversen	Rosenborg	4
	Pirri	Real Madrid	4
	Valér Švec	Spartak Trnava	4