The 1981 European Cup final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Real Madrid of Spain on 27 May 1981 at the Parc des Princes, Paris, France.

They held this lead to win the match 1–0, securing Liverpool's third European Cup and a fifth consecutive victory by an English team.

[1] Liverpool gained entry to the competition by winning the 1979–80 Football League First Division, entering as English champions.

The first leg was at Aberdeen's home ground, Pittodrie, a McDermott goal in the fifth minute ensured a 1–0 victory for Liverpool.

The first leg was held in England, another hat-trick from Souness and goals from McDermott and Sammy Lee gave Liverpool a 5–1 victory.

They won the second leg at the Vasil Levski National Stadium 1–0 to progress to the semi-finals courtesy of a 6–1 aggregate victory.

Their cause was not helped when striker Kenny Dalglish had to be replaced in the early minutes of the match by the inexperienced Howard Gayle.

Two goals from Laurie Cunningham and Francisco García Hernández secured a 2–0 victory in the second leg at Honvéd's home ground the Bozsik József Stadion, thus, winning the tie 3–0 on aggregate.

A 0–0 at the Dynamo Lenin Stadium in the Soviet Union left the tie finely balanced heading into the second leg in Spain.

Real Madrid were appearing in their ninth final, they had won the competition six times,[10] including a record five successive victories from 1956 to 1960.

[11] Liverpool had finished fifth during the 1980–81 Football League First Division, thus they needed to win the final to ensure that they would compete in the European Cup the following season.

Despite this, Liverpool had won the Football League Cup for the first time earlier in the season, defeating West Ham United 2–1 in a replay after the final finished 1–1.

Phil Neal advanced down the right hand side of the pitch and found Dalglish who passed to Graeme Souness, who ran late through the Real defence.

Clemence came off his line and ran towards the Real midfielder, Camacho attempted to lob the ball over the keeper, but his shot went over the goal.

Real's slow pace interspersed with high speed bursts,[14] while Liverpool preferred a more deliberate approach, keeping possession and making use of their wingers.

[15] Liverpool's victory meant that Bob Paisley became the first manager to win the European Cup three times.