Champions league brings record-breaking numbers to Cardiff

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Real Madrid fans in CardiffImage source, EPA
Image caption,

Real Madrid fans in Cardiff before the match

A record-breaking number of visitors came to Cardiff for the Uefa Champions League final, the city council has said.

A total of 314,264 fans soaked up the atmosphere as Real Madrid from Spain beat Italy's Juventus 4-1 on 3 June.

The council said the footfall outstripped the previous record of 270,421, when Wales beat France 16-9 at the Six Nations in 2012.

Councillor Russell Goodway said the final put Cardiff on the "world stage".

"It was an opportunity to make our city shine to a global audience, to market ourselves as an up and coming city that has so much to offer and we did exactly that, and I am proud that we have delivered," he said.

Some businesses have complained that they lost money during the four-day festival as local people stayed away from the city centre.

Monitoring of city centre footfall began in 1999 when the first camera was installed in Queen Street. Full monitoring began in 2007.

The figures are digitally recorded with cameras across the city showing the footfall for specific streets in the city centre.