A government medical chief has said it is an "interesting hypothesis" that Liverpool's match against Atletico Madrid may have led to a spike in coronavirus cases in the city.
Jurgen Klopp's men hosted Atletico at Anfield in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on March 11.
At the time there had been a major outbreak of coronavirus in the Spanish capital which had led to schools and universities being closed with all games there being ordered to be played behind closed doors.
However the game got the green light from authorities in the UK with a crowd of around 54,000 attending, including around 3,000 fans who travelled from Madrid.
The director of public health in Liverpool, Madrid's Mayor and even Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp have since said they believed this was a mistake.
At the daily Downing Street press conference the Liverpool Echo's political editor Liam Thorp asked if after a "surge" in deaths in the city, with 250 having lost their lives in hospital, the government were prepared to accept it was a mistake to allow it to happen.
Deputy chief scientific adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean said: "I'm genuinely sad to hear so many people in Liverpool have been unwell and so many have died.
“The question you’ve raised has to be put into context of what was the general policy at the time.”
"In the bit of our recent history where we were living our lives as normal, under that circumstance going to a football match was not a particularly large extra risk she said.
“However, when you get to the situation of our strange lives as we live them now where we spend all our time basically at home, of course you wouldn’t add on an extra risk of lots and lots of people going off to the same place at the same time,” she continued.
“I think it will be very interesting to see in the future when all the science is done what relationship there is between the virus that has circulated in Liverpool and the virus that has circulated in Spain.
"That’s certainly an interesting hypothesis you raise there.”
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti said at the end of March, after football had shut down in Britain: "I spoke with (Jurgen) Klopp a few days ago, he told me that the decision to play Liverpool-Atletico was a criminal act and I think he's right.
"We are all living a life that we were not used to and that will change us profoundly. I'm sure we will all have to downsize, starting with football."
