Barcelona triumphant at Wembley

The result means Barcelona have now lifted the coveted trophy four times, with only Liverpool, AC Milan and Real Madrid above them in the all-time winners table.

Before the kick-off Barcelona were the favourites to triumph, having beaten United 2-0 in the final in Rome two years ago.

Around 400 million people around the world were expected to watch the game live, making it the biggest single sporting event in history.

Overall the final was worth a record GBP320m, according to a study commissioned by sponsors MasterCard.

The two finalists will share a purse of GBP173m, with the winners taking home £109m and the losers around GBP63m.

With an estimated 110,000 fans flocking to London for the final, the host city was set to reap around £45m.

Match receipts were boosted by the 90,000 attendance at Wembley, the ninth highest in the history of the European Cup final and the biggest since 1999.

TV receipts will also be higher than ever before, with more than 70 companies around the globe paying through the nose to screen the game live.

Experts have put TV earnings from the competition at more than GBP1bn, greater even than the World Cup final.