Blackburn were sent crashing out of the UEFA Cup as they only managed to beat Greek side Larissa 2-1 at Ewood Park and lost the overall tie by 3-2. The English side had performed poorly in the first leg which they lost 2-0, but where still confident that they possessed enough quality to progress to the UEFA Cup's group stage. Their hopes hit a major bump in the first half as the visitors went ahead which meant that Blackburn needed win the match by 3 goals. The home side levelled just before the break and when Warnock gave them a 2-1 lead just after the interval it looked like Blackburn had good chances of progressing. They did not manage to score further goals though as Larissa held on to claim a major scalp.

Blackburn manager Hughes fielded the same starting formation that beat Sunderland in the weekend which meant that key figures Gamst Pedersen and Savage had to settle for a place on the bench. Hughes had confirmed that striker McCarthy would play a role but he only got the last 20 minutes on the field even though Blackburn could have used his qualities after going behind. Ooijer again replaced the injured Ryan Nelsen in central defence. Larissa fielded a 4-3-3 formation but in most of the game it looked more like a 4-5-1 formation as the visitors played a controlled defensive style. There were no surprises in the Greek's starting formation as manager Donis still had to do without injured defender Venetidis.

Manager Hughes had before the game stressed the importance of keeping it clean at the back, but his players must not have listened as Blackburn looked shaky at the back. Cleyton's finish silenced the home crowd as Blackburn suddenly needed to score at least 4 goals. They created a coupe of good chances before Derbyshire was given the chance from the spot after Dunn had been brought down in the area and after missing the first kick the referee ordered a retake and here the young striker made no mistake. Shortly after the break Warnock gave the Rovers faithful some hope as he volleyed past the Greek keeper, but even though they created a fair amount of chances Blackburn did not manage to grab that third goal that would have opened the match and the visitors looked comfortable in the last 10 minutes.

The Blackburn players will have been kicking themselves in the dressing room after the match. Both because of their awful first leg performance which is the main reason why the are out of the UEFA Cup, but also because of the fact that they allowed the Greek minnows to score at Ewood Park which made the task almost impossible to overcome. They will now be able to focus solely on the domestic competitions but after the hard work of qualifying for Europe they will be bitterly disappointed. Larissa faces a tough task in the group stage of the tournament and will need a very pleasant draw if they are to stand a chance of progressing from their group.