Forest halted in Munich quarter-final

English clubs struggled to leave their mark on the UEFA Cup on their return to European com-petitions following a five-year ban due to the Heysel tragedy.

For a number of seasons, En-glish teams suffered early elimi-nation. In the 1995-96 UEFA Cup, Nottingham Forest were the only English side that reached the last eight of the competition.

The same happened to New-castle the next year and Aston Villa in 1997-98.

Season 1995-96

Preliminary round: Raith Rovers-GI Gotu (Faroe Islands) 4-0, 2-2 (6-2). Motherwell-MyPa Anjalankoski (Finland) 1-3, 2-0 (3-3).

First round: Rotor Volgograd (Russia)-Manchester United 0-0, 2-2 (2-2). Malmo FF- Nottingham Forest 2-1, 0-1 (2-2). Monaco-Leeds United 0-3, 1-0 (1-3). Raith Rovers-IA Akranes (Iceland) 3-1, 0-1 (3-2). Spartak Vladikavkaz (Russia)-Liverpool 1-2, 0-0 (1-2).

Second round: Brondby-Liverpool 0-0, 1-0 (1-0). Leeds-PSV Eindhoven 3-5, 0-3 (3-8). AJ Auxerre-N. Forest 0-1, 0-0 (0-1). Raith Rovers-Bayern Munich 0-2, 1-2 (1-4).

Third round: N. Forest-Oly. Lyon 1-0, 0-0 (1-0).

Quarter-finals: Bayern Munich-Nottingham Forest 2-1, 5-1 (7-2).

Season 1996-97

Newcastle United, like Nottingham Forest, made it to the last eight but they suffered the same fate, being defeated at home and away in the quarter-finals.

Qualifying round: FC Kosice (Slovakia)-Celtic 0-0, 0-1 (0-1). Zhalgiris Vilnius (Lithuania)-Aberdeen 1-4, 3-1 (4-5).

First round: Newcastle United-Halmtads BK (Sweden) 4-0, 1-2 (5-2). Aberdeen-Barry Town 3-1, 3-3 (6-4). Celtic-Hamburg 0-2, 0-2 (0-4). Arsenal-B. M’gladbach 2-3, 2-3 (4-6). Aston Villa-Helsingborgs (Sweden) 1-1, 0-0 (1-1).

Second round: Aberdeen-Brondby 0-2, 0-0 (0-2). Ferencvaros-Newcastle 3-2, 0-4 (3-6).

Third round: FC Metz (France)-Newcastle 1-1, 0-2 (1-3).

Quarter-final: Newcastle Uni-ted-Monaco 0-1, 0-3 (0-4).

Season 1997-98

Aston Villa made a bold effort to advance in the UEFA Cup but as happened to Nottingham Forest and Newcastle in previous years, they also survived until the last-eight stage, being eliminated by the away goals rule by Atletico Madrid.

Preliminary round: Inter Cable-Tel (Wales)-Celtic 0-3, 0-5 (0-8). CE Principat (Andorra)-Dundee United 0-8, 0-9 (0-17).

Qualifying round: Trabzonspor-Dundee United 1-0, 1-1 (2-1). Tirol Innsbruck (Austria)-Celtic 2-1, 3-6 (5-7).

First round: PAOK Salonika (Greece)-Arsenal 1-0, 1-1 (2-1). Strasbourg-Rangers 2-1, 2-1 (4-2). Bordeaux-Aston Villa 0-0, 0-1 (0-1). Celtic-Liverpool 2-2, 0-0 (2-2). Atletico Madrid-Leicester City 2-1, 2-0 (4-1).

Second round: Strasbourg-Liverpool 3-0, 0-2 (3-2). Athletic Bilbao-Aston Villa 0-0, 1-2 (1-2).

Third round: Steaua Bucharest-Aston Villa 2-1, 0-2 (2-3).

Quarter-final: Atletico Madrid-Aston Villa 1-0, 1-2 (2-2).

Season 1998-99

Rangers and Liverpool were eliminated in the third round as English clubs continued to falter in the UEFA Cup.

Preliminary round: Zeljeznicar (Bosnia)-Kilmarnock 1-1, 0-1 (1-2). Shelbourne (Ireland)-Ran-gers 3-5, 0-2 (3-7).

Qualifying round: Sigma Olomouc (Czech Rep)-Kilmarnock 2-0, 2-0 (4-0). Rangers-PAOK Salonika 2-0, 0-0.

First round: Blackburn-Lyon 0-1, 2-2 (2-3). Vitoria Guimares-Celtic 1-2, 1-2 (2-4). Aston Villa-Stromsgodset (Norway) 3-2, 3-0 (6-2). FC Kosice (Slovakia)-Liverpool 0-3, 0-5 (0-8). Beitar Jeru-salem-Rangers 1-1, 2-4 (3-5). Leeds United-Maritimo (Portugal) 1-0, 0-1 (1-1, Leeds through on penalties).

Second round: Roma-Leeds United 1-0, 0-0 (1-0). Liverpool-Valencia 0-0, 2-2 (2-2). Celta Vigo-Aston Villa 0-1, 3-1 (3-2). Bayer Leverkusen-Rangers 1-2, 1-1 (2-3). Celtic-FC Zurich 1-1, 2-4 (2-5).

Third round: Rangers-Parma 1-1, 1-3 (2-4). Celta Vigo-Liverpool 3-1, 1-0 (4-1).