An estimated 180 000 German football fans swarmed into London on Saturday as anticipation grew ahead of the first ever all-Bundesliga Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
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Supporters decked in Dortmund's distinctive yellow and black strip cavorted in Trafalgar Square, while Bayern fans packed into trains heading for the city centre.
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The English Football Association celebrates its 150th anniversary this year and the British media were quick to highlight the irony of two German teams taking over Wembley Stadium for the game.
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The Guardian newspaper headlined its sports section "Fussball's coming home" – a reference to a mid-1990s British football song that has been appropriated by German fans – and carried a picture of deckchairs in Dortmund and Munich's colours sitting outside Wembley.
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The Times, meanwhile, said the game "symbolises the closeness of Anglo-German relations".
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The two teams trained beneath steady rain at the stadium on Friday evening, but the sun shone on the British capital on Saturday and weather forecasts predicted temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius at kick-off.
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Bayern and Dortmund also received messages of encouragement from their local media.
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Regional Dortmund daily Ruhr Nachrichten was headlined "One team, one dream", while the Munich-based Meunchener Abendzeitung urged Bayern to "Lift the cup".