The previous season, Athletic's German head coach Jupp Heynckes had guided them to a fine 5th-place finish in La Liga.
However, Heynckes accepted an offer in July to return to his homeland with Eintracht Frankfurt,[3] leaving his Spanish employers searching for a new coach.
[9] However, the pattern of the first two rounds was mirrored in the second leg as Parma pulled off a 4–2 victory at Stadio Ennio Tardini to eliminate their Basque rivals.
Athletic carried a 3–0 deficit from the first leg, so the 0–0 draw at San Mamés saw them eliminated,[13] although this marked their best cup run since reaching the same stage three years earlier.
[14] At the end of the season, Yugoslavian Dragoslav Stepanović, formerly in charge of German club Bayer Leverkusen, was appointed as Irureta's permanent replacement.