Match #24: Tottenham Hotspur vs Borussia Dortmund
Date: February 13th 2019, Wembley Stadium, 8:00pm
Competition: Champions League, Knockout Round
THE BUILDUP
Despite being our 24th match in 3 months, this one might’ve been the most anticipated.
Three months ago, we were sitting in a pub in downtown Boston eagerly awaiting the outcome of Tottenham Hotspurs’ 2nd Champions League Group Stage match vs PSV. If Spurs didn’t get at least one point then they were officially out of the competition. If they drew and got only one point, then they were mathematically still alive, but realistically dead.
Amazingly and unexpectedly, Tottenham clawed back and defeated PSV by a score of 2-1 that day back in November, giving them a much better chance of advancing in the competition. Which gave us a chance to ultimately see them play in a Champions League knockout match at Wembley.
It was our 4th time at Wembley Stadium in 11 weeks.
Wembley truly is an incredible stadium to experience — it is the largest in England and typically hosts the Final match of each Domestic Cup competition, such as the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, as well as important England national team matches.
So, for many players in the Premier League, they’ve dreamt their entire lives of stepping on that field, as it would have typically meant they would either be playing for a Cup or for their country that day. And for many fans, they’ve undoubtedly dreamt of seeing their team play at Wembley for the same reasons.
Wembley was once a fan favorite in the UK; however, lately many feel that the aura of Wembley has been spoiled by Tottenham’s continued presence as their new stadium is being built. Spurs fans and the players themselves have even been quoted reporting their eagerness to move away from Wembley and back to North London. Luckily, their time calling Wembley their home is drawing to a close!
Wembley or no Wembley, Spurs fans were ready for the match that day in mid-February against German behemoths Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund, who sat atop the Bundesliga, had on their well-known yellow and black striped jerseys and were starting their flashy Englishman, Jadon Sancho, as well as the up and coming American, Christian Pulisic. If the sheer numbers and noise from their traveling fan section was any indication of the game about to be played — Dortmund was ready to rock.
Tottenham, who were firmly situated third in the Premier League with a very real shot at the title, were sporting their classic lilywhite uniforms. With an ever growing list of recent injuries, their lineup was quoted at being “subpar” with integral players including Harry Kane and Dele Alli ruled out of the lineup.
For us, even at match #24, this was by far the biggest match we’d attended in the past 3 months. This one had a different meaning.
For the Champions League, it’s do or die. The Knockout Round. Win at home or you’re immediately behind, as you then travel to the opposing team’s home stadium in 3 weeks time.
ARRIVAL AT THE MATCH
Our evening began after we hopped on a train into London Euston. We made our way to our Airbnb in the Wembley area (we’ve stayed at the same place on 2 different occasions during our time in the UK) by taking the Metropolitan line to Wembley Park station.
Getting to and from Wembley by train is typically very easy BUT straight up sucks when the stadium is close to full capacity. We knew from experience that after the match, there is typically a very long queue to even get into Wembley Park station for the underground/tube (though not as bad as West Ham).
Luckily for us, having done this a few other times, we knew the benefits of staying close by and were able to make the quick 10 minute walk to and from the stadium. As we arrived through turnstile K, we quickly made our way to our seats in time to catch the epic Champions League walk out.
KICK OFF: 8 PM
The match began with high energy from both sides, but let’s fast-forward to the end of the first half. Half time could not come soon enough as Dortmund were completely dominating the match. Most shots and opportunities on goal came from Dortmund and they also had the edge in possession. Hearing the halftime whistle was a huge sigh of relief for Spurs’ fans.
No one knew what was in store in the second half, and neither did we. However, we did know one thing: Heung-Min Son was not going to stop. Not stop running. Not stop attacking. And not stop playing his heart out.
And he didn’t.
In the 47th minute, Son got on the end of a beautifully crossed ball from Jan Vertonghen and Spurs went up 1-0, slightly against the run of play. This goal would eventually prove to be the game winner but not before Super Jan found the back of the net himself and Fernando Llorente added a 3rd.
After each goal, Wembley absolutely ERUPTED. Spurs were ferociously taking it to Dortmund – a team who has been completely dominating the German League all season (above Bayern Munich), and a team who had been electric in the first half. It was a sight to see and something we’ll never forget.
Spurs won the match 3-0 and more importantly gave themselves a huge lead in preparation for their return match in Germany 3 weeks later. Dortmund would have a massive hill to climb, which meant that Spurs would have a really good chance of advancing to the Quarter-Final stage of the competition.
We may have been at 23 other matches in the UK over the previous 11 weeks, but the final whistle at this last match really put the cherry on top of our entire experience.
Games like this and experiences like this are exactly what we came for.
OUR TICKET RECOMMENDATIONS
Wembley Stadium is an incredible place to see a match, and we highly recommended it! In our future posts, we plan to let you know how we secured tickets at every stadium (and give recommendations if we’ve learned of a better way than what we did). However, for Wembley, the ticket sales were a little out of the ordinary because Spurs were playing there in the interim while awaiting the opening of their new stadium. So in this case, we actually ordered our tickets directly through the Spurs website.
If you are looking to go to a different event at Wembley, check out if the tickets are on sale on the direct website for Wembley.
For Spurs, tickets typically go on sale about 6 weeks prior to each match (although this can change) so if you know of a specific match you want to go to, make sure you look up the On-Sale Date for your event and set a reminder for yourself to book tickets at the exact time they go on sale (depending on the opponent, date, occasion, etc tickets can sell out quickly).
We’ve never booked directly from the Wembley website, so we can’t relay any experience with that, but getting Spurs tickets at Wembley has been very straightforward on the Spurs website. Tickets typically go on sale to One Hotspur+ Members first, followed by One Hotspur Members the following day, and ultimately followed by a Guest sale period.
It is usually much easier to get tickets if you pay for a membership for a certain club, because you can buy them much earlier and don’t risk the chance of them selling out before getting to general sale. So if there is a club you specifically support and hope to see play, we highly recommend joining their membership. Plus, they usually send you goodies in the mail.
Full Disclosure: we are not sure if this will be the same process for buying tickets once Spurs’ New Stadium opens. (But we hope to find out soon!)
ADDITIONAL RECS
At Wembley, our only additional recommendations are to try to stay close by overnight. We used Airbnb because it was simple and cheap (sign up for airbnb here to save up to $65! And this is the exact place we stayed in while we were there.
It was a shared place but we had a private room with a lock on the door and a private ensuite bathroom, which was perfect! It was basically a hotel room but without the larger cost.
The Wembley area is currently under construction and being totally built up. So, there may also be more hotel options in the area very soon!
If you decide to stay in a different area of London, both the underground and overground systems are super convenient and there are multiple train stations near Wembley Stadium where you can get on and off. We’ve never driven in so we can’t speak to the traffic or cost/availability of parking, but there are multiple parking garages in the immediate area. Regardless what method you choose, we recommend getting to the stadium early as the queues can build up at the gates to enter the stadium!
This final match of our trip was absolutely crazy because it was quite literally the biggest game we went to. The Champions League is arguably the greatest accomplishment for a player to win in their career, as it is a tournament played between all of the biggest clubs across all of Europe. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog posts to hear where our journey began! 🙂
Extra Time Abroad is a lifestyle blog focusing on three areas: finance, sustainability, and travel. The blog is managed by husband/wife duo JJ & Janelle. They can be found on Instagram @ExtraTimeAbroad or at the airport!
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