There are trips you plan because you want to visit a place.
And then there are trips where the destination almost doesn’t matter.
On June 1, 2024, my dad and I were in London for one reason:
Real Madrid was playing in the Champions League Final.
At Wembley Stadium.
Against Borussia Dortmund.
I’ve been fortunate enough to attend some incredible soccer matches over the years, but this was different.
This was a European Cup Final.
And by the end of the night, we’d watched Real Madrid win 2–0 and lift the European Cup for a record-extending 15th time.
La Decimoquinta.
Together.
Getting Tickets Was the First Challenge
Getting to London was easy.
Getting into Wembley was considerably more complicated.
Champions League Final tickets are notoriously difficult to obtain, and there were none available to us directly through Real Madrid.
That left us trying to navigate the secondary market for one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
Even after finding tickets, there was another problem:
Where exactly were we sitting?
For a normal soccer match, that might not matter very much.
For a Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, it matters quite a bit.
European soccer crowds aren’t arranged like American sporting events, where supporters of both teams are generally scattered throughout the stadium.
Each club receives an allocation for its supporters, creating enormous blocks of Madridistas at one end and Dortmund supporters at the other.
We couldn’t confidently determine which side our seats would put us on.
So we bought the tickets and hoped for the best.
We got very lucky.
Four Hours Early to Wembley
We had heard plenty about what happened at Wembley during the Euro 2020 Final between England and Italy in 2021.
Thousands of ticketless supporters descended on the stadium, security perimeters were breached and legitimate ticket holders found themselves caught in scenes that an independent review later characterized as serious public disorder.
We wanted absolutely no part of anything resembling that.
So we arrived at Wembley about four hours before kickoff.
Very early?
Absolutely.
Worth it?
Absolutely.
Part of attending a major sporting event is everything that happens before the game anyway.
And a Champions League Final isn’t something you rush into 20 minutes before kickoff.
We wanted the entire experience.
Wembley on Champions League Final Day
As the stadium came into view, the scale of the event became obvious.
Wembley is already one of the most famous stadiums in the world.
On Champions League Final day, it becomes something else entirely.
Madrid shirts everywhere.
Dortmund yellow everywhere.
Flags.
Scarves.
Television crews.
Sponsors.
Police.
Music.
Fans arriving from Spain, Germany and seemingly everywhere else on Earth.
We wandered around the stadium, bought some Champions League Final merchandise and simply took in the scene.
Finding somewhere for a pregame beer wasn’t as easy as we’d expected.
Many of the nearby bars and gathering places had been designated for official supporter groups, so access depended on which club’s supporters were assigned there.
That was fine.
There was enough happening around Wembley that we didn’t really need to sit inside a pub anyway.
We walked.
Shopped.
Watched the crowds build.
Took pictures.
And waited.
Four hours sounds like a long time until you’re standing outside Wembley before a Champions League Final.
Then it disappears remarkably quickly.
Walking Into Wembley
Eventually, it was time.
There’s something different about walking into a stadium for a final.
There is no next week.
No second leg.
No opportunity to fix anything.
One match.
Ninety minutes.
European champion.
And when we finally found our seats, we realized just how fortunate we’d been.
We were surrounded by Madridistas.
Even better, we were behind the goal Real Madrid would attack in the second half.
At the time, we obviously didn’t know how important that would become.
A Night to Remember
Toni Kroos—playing the final club match of his career—started finding more space.
And in the 74th minute, Madrid won a corner.
Kroos walked over to take it.
He sent the ball toward the near post.
And Dani Carvajal rose above the Dortmund defense.
Header.
Goal.
1–0 Real Madrid.
Wembley exploded.
More specifically, our section exploded.
People jumping.
People screaming.
People hugging complete strangers.
My dad and I celebrating in the middle of thousands of Madridistas.
All the uncertainty about where our tickets would put us suddenly seemed very funny.
We couldn’t have picked better seats.
Vinícius Júnior
Nine minutes later, Dortmund made a mistake trying to play out from the back.
Madrid punished them.
Jude Bellingham found Vinícius Júnior.
And Vini finished.
Again:
Right in front of us.
2–0.
At that point, you knew.
Real Madrid was going to be European champion again.
Vini sprinted away celebrating.
The Madrid end erupted for the second time.
And somewhere in the chaos, I remember looking at my dad.
There are sporting moments you remember because of what happened.
There are others you remember because of who was standing next to you when it happened.
This was both.
15
The final whistle confirmed it.
Borussia Dortmund 0. Real Madrid 2.
European champions.
Again.
Real Madrid had now won the European Cup 15 times.
Fifteen.
No other club was remotely close.
And this particular title had required an absurd journey.
RB Leipzig.
Manchester City.
Bayern Munich.
Borussia Dortmund.
Madrid had survived Manchester City on penalties at the Etihad.
Joselu had somehow scored twice in the final minutes against Bayern at the Bernabéu.
And now, at Wembley, Carvajal and Vinícius had finished the job.
UEFA’s trophy ceremony began.
The stage was assembled.
Medals were handed out.
And eventually Real Madrid walked up to collect the European Cup.
Toni Kroos’ Last Real Madrid Match
There was another layer to the night.
This was Toni Kroos’ final match for Real Madrid.
After ten seasons in Madrid, he was leaving the club.
His final club appearance was a Champions League Final at Wembley.
He assisted the winning goal.
And then he walked away as a six-time European champion—five of those titles with Real Madrid.
There aren’t many better ways to finish.
Watching Kroos celebrate with the trophy made the evening feel like the end of one Madrid era even as another was beginning.
Wembley With My Dad
But years from now, I’m not sure the tactical details will be what I remember most.
I’ll remember arriving ridiculously early because we’d heard horror stories about the Euro Final.
I’ll remember walking around Wembley for hours.
I’ll remember trying to figure out where the Madrid supporters would be.
I’ll remember seeing all that yellow at the opposite end of the stadium.
I’ll remember Dortmund hitting the post and wondering whether this might not be Madrid’s night.
I’ll remember Kroos walking toward the corner flag.
Carvajal’s header.
Vini’s finish.
And I’ll remember my dad standing beside me.
That’s the part you can’t recreate.
Why We Travel for Sports
I’ve always believed sporting events can be one of the best reasons to travel.
A stadium tells you something about a city.
A club tells you something about its supporters.
And major international competitions bring together people who may speak different languages, come from different countries and have almost nothing else in common.
For a few hours, everyone cares about the same thing.
Sometimes intensely.
This was one of those nights.
Madridistas had traveled from Spain and around the world.
Dortmund supporters had crossed from Germany.
We’d traveled to London.
And 90 minutes of soccer brought all of us to the same stadium.
One group went home heartbroken.
We went home having witnessed history.
Final Thoughts
I’ve seen Real Madrid play before.
Hopefully I’ll see them many more times.
But I’m not sure I’ll ever replicate this one.
A Champions League Final.
Wembley Stadium.
Real Madrid.
My dad.
Two second-half goals directly in front of us.
And at the end of the night, the European Cup being lifted for the 15th time.
When we bought the tickets, we didn’t even know whether we’d end up surrounded by Madrid supporters or Dortmund supporters.
A few weeks later, we were standing behind the goal with thousands of Madridistas as Vinícius Júnior scored the goal that effectively ended the final.
Sometimes travel requires meticulous planning.
Sometimes you buy the ticket, get on the plane and hope everything works out.
This time, it did.
Real Madrid came to Wembley looking for La Decimoquinta.
My dad and I were lucky enough to be there when they found it.
