Real Madrid were looking to continue following the standards they had set by winning the Champions league the previous season. They won their group, which included Bayer Leverkusen and Spartak Moscow. Arsenal improved on their poor performances the previous season as they topped their group which consisted of Lazio and Sparta Praha. The previous year’s finalists, Valencia, easily topped their group, which consisted of Lyon and Dutch club, Heerenveen. Group F, consisted of Bayern Munich, PSG and Rosenborg. The prior two both went through to the next round. Manchester United were lucky to qualify for the next round as they finished second in their group behind Belgian champions, Anderlecht. AC Milan and Leeds United occupied the top two positions in the final group.
All the teams that qualified from the first group stage now had to qualify from a second group stage. Group A consisted of Manchester united, Valencia, Sturm Graz and Greek champions, Panathinaikos. United and Valencia both finished first and second, with 12 points a piece. Deportivo de La Coruna and Galatasaray both qualified from Group B. Bayern Munich and Arsenal qualified from Group C and another English club qualified, this time Leeds United, from Group H. Leeds were certainly the surprise package as they disposed of Deportivo in the quarter finals, 3-2 on aggregate. Valencia beat Arsenal on the away goals rule in the second quarter final and Bayern Munich comfortably beat Manchester united 3-1. Reigning champions, Real Madrid saw off Galatasaray.
Leeds United’s champion’s league dreams were shattered in the semis as Valencia thrashed them 3-0 in the second leg. Bayern Munich got revenge on Real Madrid as they won 3-1 over the two legs. The final between Bayern Munich and Valencia finished 1-1 and had to be decided on penalties, Oliver Kahn proved to be the hero as Munich won the shoot out 5-4.