Willkommen to Wembley

For the first time in Champions League history, two German sides are squaring off in the final. It's a dream come true for Bundesliga fans - particularly those of Borussia Dortmund (represented here in yellow) and Bayern Munich (in red). While England would have preferred to see at least one home team in the final, they are playing gracious hosts to thousands of Germans nonetheless.

Around 50,000 tickets were available to share between fans of both clubs for the Champions League final - not even close to enough to cover demand. Scalped tickets were selling for up to several thousand euros leading up to the game. Some die-hard fans paid dearly for high-end tickets online, only for them to end up being fakes.

For Bayern fans like Helmut Roberts (seen here on a decked-out Bayern bike in front of Wembley), this year's final represents a chance to make up for a heartbreaking loss in the Champions League final last season. It came down to penalties against Chelsea, and the English side's nerves proved to be tougher. Adding insult to injury, the match was held at Bayern's Allianz Arena.

Dortmund has a chance to throw a wrench into Bayern's well-laid plans - a role Dortmund has grown accustomed to recently. In the Bundesliga, Dortmund beat Bayern for the previous two titles and added a German Cup win over the Bavarians last year. Bayern ran the league table this year, and knocked Dortmund out of the Cup, but Dortmund won't hesitate to be a fly in Bayern's ointment in London.

The English have been reliably good-humored about the fact that two German sides are contesting the final at the hallowed grounds of Wembley. 'At the end of the game, a German team will lose,' goes the thinking in London, where German teams are known for dashing English football hopes. At the very least, the city will get a nice tourism boost from the thousands of German fans who made the trip.

For those who weren't lucky enough to get a ticket (or who don't have a few thousand to spare on a second-hand ticket), public viewing events have been set up in London and in cities across Germany. In fact, the public viewing events in Germany have turned into hot-ticket items themselves despite the cold weather predicted for Saturday evening.

...and the game lasts 90 minutes,' according to a famously obvious German saying. Dortmund and Bayern fans know the phrase, but they also know how a 90-minute game with a round ball can create life-long memories. They'll join millions around the world eagerly watching the all-German battle at Wembley to crown the 2013 Champions League champ.