This year’s UEFA Champions League Final was played between two German teams in London’s Wembley stadium. The football teams were Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. We were lucky again this year to be able to see the game as guests of a broadcasting partner of UEFA. We flew into London Gatwick super-early on game day on a late May weekend.

Last year, the final game was played in Munich with Bayern Munich being one of the finalist. They lost, however to the visiting team – Chelsea, to much visible disappointment of the whole city. Here are our posts on last year’s pre-game show and the game.

The Wembley stadium was huge. From the hospitality suite, we circled around half the stadium to our seats somewhere near mid-field.

The pre-game show started with both sides marching onto the field in medieval armor in their respective team colors.

Bayern Munich was in red, Borussia Dortmund was in yellow.

The two sides, shooting arrows and waving fake swords and shields, charged at each other on the field fighting a mock battle.

Then the giant flags came out.

The best seats in the house were on the other side where the players faced the spectators.

The Dortmund fans were seated to our right side.

The Munich fans were seated to our left side, a bit more organized in their expression of support.

The red flares lit by the Munich fans were dramatic, dangerous, and sent choking smoke everywhere.

We took pictures of some of the actions on the pitch but they are no match to what can be seen on TV, so we won’t bother to post them. Although Dortmund mounted an early attack, Munich finally won the match clearly by being the better team of the day (Dortmund 1 – Munich 2). This was the scene immediately after the game was over.

The Munich players and the fans celebrating the win below where we sat.

The German team, Kings of Europe, collected the trophy as seen on the giant TV screen. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor could be seen in the background (the only woman in a purple outfit).

The hospitality experience, however, was slightly less than Munich last year, partly due to the smaller space.

We had a wonderful day in London, really enjoyed the game and our company. After the game, we stayed the night in London. On the next day, we took the Eurostar train to Paris where we saw the French Open Tennis games (see earlier posts here and here).