ajax faced turkish team beşiktaş in the first round of the european cup. they won the first leg 2–0 at the olympic stadium, courtesy of goals from piet keizer and bennie muller. the second leg in turkey finished 2–1 to ajax, with goals from keizer and sjaak swart. ajax won the tie 4–1 on aggregate to progress to the second round. liverpool were drawn against romanian team petrolul ploiești in the first round, and won the first leg at their home ground anfield, courtesy of goals from ian st. john and ian callaghan. petrolul ploiești won the second leg 3–1 in romania to level the tie at 3–3 after the two matches. the tie would be decided by a play-off match, which liverpool 2–0 to progress to the second round.