Liverpool suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Atletico Madrid in the Champions League at Anfield a couple of weeks ago. And according to the council’s director of public health Matthew Ashton, this game could have contributed to a spike in positive COVID-19 cases in the region.
The Reds hosted Atletico in the second leg in the second leg of the Round of 16 on March 11 and this game was played in front of a packed stadium despite many people urging UEFA to cancel off this match.
“It was not the right decision to stage the match,” he told the Guardian.
“People don’t make bad decisions on purpose — perhaps the seriousness of the situation wasn’t being understood across government at that time.
Liverpool council's director of public health Matthew Ashton has suggested the rise in coronavirus cases in the city may have been influenced by the decision to allow the Reds' Champions League match against Atletico Madrid to take place.
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) April 3, 2020
“Although we will never know, the Atletico Madrid game could have been one of the cultural events and gatherings that influenced the rise in Liverpool.
“It is definitely one to be included on the list for learning and for a future inquiry, so that organisations can learn and not make similar mistakes.”
During this same period, the number of coronavirus cases in Europe were on a rise and a number of matches across various other countries were being played behind closed doors and the Serie A had even postponed some of their matches.
But since the epidemic scare did not reach Britain yet, the governing body of football chose not to lock down the stadium which now seems to be a foolish mistake.
And this will infuriate a lot of people even more since the Liverpool manager himself has stated on numerous occasions that lives matter more than football and the authorities should not take this situation lightly.
Here’s what Carlo Ancelotti had said a couple of days ago: “The other day I heard [from] Klopp.
“He told me that making the game[Liverpool vs Atletico] play in those conditions was a criminal act, I think he was right.”
