The UEFA Cup final at Hampden, Glasgow, gave The Herald a sales boost despite the absence of a Scottish team – after pre- and post-match coverage was published in Spanish.

The city welcomed competing teams Espanyol and Sevilla on May 16, along with thousands of their fans.

So The Herald decided to give its sports coverage a truly international flavour, with two four-page UEFA wrap-arounds in Spanish.

Produced by Herald sports editor Donald Cowey, his deputy James Porteous and their team – with the help of a translator – the supplements included pre- and post match analysis, interviews and player ratings.

And the result was The Herald’s highest Wednesday sale this year, with more than 75,500 copies sold.

Deputy editor Janette Harkess told HoldtheFrontPage: “The Spanish edition of The Herald’s sports section helped us achieve a circulation increase of just over 2,000 copies on the Wednesday, the day of the match.

“The paper was sold by vendors around the city centre – particularly George Square and the Merchant City quarter where activities were laid on for the 30,000 fans who poured into the city.

“Despite the weather (it rained most of the day) there was a fantastic party atmosphere in Glasgow and the feedback from the visiting fans was that they were made to feel incredibly welcome.”

The sale of Thursday’s section – which included a full match report on Sevilla’s win – also showed a strong increase, with around 1,000 extra copies sold.

Janette said: “The Spanish editions have been widely praised by Glasgow’s business and political leaders and have been featured on UEFA’s website, Sky Sports etc.”