Matthew Ashton, director of health for the English City of Liverpool, said that they have to stand up in the future for what happened in the match "The Liver" against Atletico Madrid, which was held at Anfield stadium on March 11 in the second leg of the 16th round of the European Champions League and ended with the victory of the Spanish team. 2-3.
Matthew Ashton told the British Guardian newspaper that the match, which was attended by 54,000 spectators, including 3,000 fans of the visiting team, could be one of the reasons that caused the spread of the Corona epidemic in Liverpool, and said: "It must be included in a list to learn from in the future in order to ensure that no Making similar mistakes. "
Ashton stressed that the decision to allow the match was not correct, indicating at the same time that he did not want to criticize the authorities that informed the clubs of the continued holding of sporting events, and said: "Sometimes people make bad decisions without intending to have not yet understood the seriousness of the situation at that time ".
The English city council of Liverpool revealed that the day of the match in Anfield, 6 cases were diagnosed with the Corona virus, while the Spanish capital, Madrid, became a focus of the virus, and that the Spanish authorities decided on the same day to hold matches without fans and closed schools.
In turn, the former regional director of public health in northwest England, father of Matthew Ashton, director of health at the current Liverpool City Council, spoke, and emphasized that the government's approach to staging the Liverpool match against Atletico Madrid was a wrong decision.
He said that the attendance of 3000 fans from fans from Spain, a country classified as experiencing a high spread of the virus, was a fundamental mistake just because some said that the virus did not pose a threat in the open air.
He added: "I think many were hurt that night."