Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has demanded an investigation into whether Liverpool's Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid should have gone ahead in the city amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Liverpool lost 3-2 to the Spanish side in front of 52,000 supporters at Anfield on March 11, with 3,000 Atleti fans having been allowed to travel from Spain.
A plan had already been agreed to play La Liga games behind closed doors due to escalating fears over the spread of Covid-19.
Spain was forced into a nationwide lockdown days after the match, on March 14, while in Britain, mass gatherings including major sporting events were suspended.
Now Liverpool Metro Mayor Mr Rotheram has questioned whether the game should have been allowed go ahead, with Spanish capital Madrid one of the European cities worst hit by coronavirus.
"If people have contracted coronavirus as a direct result of a sporting event that we believe shouldn't have taken place, well that is scandalous," said Mr Rotheram, in quotes reported by CGTN.
"That needs to be investigated to find out whether some of those infections are due directly to the Atletico fans.
"There were coronavirus hot cities, and Madrid was one of those.
"They weren't allowed to congregate in their own country, but 3,000 of those fans came over to ours, and potentially may well have spread coronavirus.
"So it does need looking at, and it does need the government to take some responsibility for not locking down sooner."
The UK government has insisted it was following scientific advice when it allowed the match and other major events such as the Cheltenham horse racing festival to go ahead in the same week.
However, the British government's deputy chief scientific adviser, Angela McLean, said on Monday that the idea of infections in Liverpool having been potentially caused by the Atletico match was "an interesting hypothesis".
