Panel blames UEFA for endangering fans at final in Paris

UEFA-appointed investigators have held European soccer’s ruling body mostly responsible for chaotic security failures at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris that put the lives of Liverpool and Real Madrid fans at risk.

“The panel has concluded that UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster,” the report said.

Many fans were fired on with tear gas by police before the game, which was delayed by nearly 40 minutes. After Madrid’s 1-0 win, dozens were robbed leaving the stadium.

UEFA statements during the chaos and after the game blamed Liverpool fans for arriving at the stadium late and using fake tickets to try to gain entry — wrongly blamed on both counts, the report said.

An apology to Liverpool supporters for “the experiences of many of them” and the unjust blaming was made Monday by UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis.

• Cody Gakpo finally got off the mark as Liverpool beat Everton 2-0 in the 242nd Merseyside derby. The Holland forward tapped in from close range in the 49th minute after Mo Salah had opened the scoring in the first half to set up Liverpool’s first win in the Premier League this

year.

Gakpo, a $45 million signing from PSV Eindhoven last month, had failed to score in his previous six appearances for his new club.

The loss leaves Everton in the relegation zone, one point behind 17th-placed Leeds. Liverpool moved up to ninth, but is still nine points off a Champions League-qualifying top four spot. Olympics: Considering the dearth of candidates to stage the Winter Games amid spiralling venue costs, the IOC might have to resort to lining up a list of fixed, rotating hosts.

A highly theoretical list could include Salt Lake City and Vancouver in North America, Pyeongchang in Asia and places like Switzerland, Italy and Scandinavia in Europe.

“I know that’s been discussed,” said retired Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn, who is on the committee for Salt Lake City’s 2030 or 2034 bid. “How early that will happen, I don’t know, but I don’t think it would happen before 2034.” Obituaries: Conrad Dobler, one of the NFL’s top offensive linemen with the St. Louis Cardinals

in the 1970s, has died. He was 72. No cause of death was given. Dobler earned three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances (1975-77). He played for the Cardinals from 1972 through ’77 before playing two seasons with New Orleans and Buffalo.

• Ted Lerner, the billionaire real-estate developer whose family bought the Washington Nationals in 2006, has died, the team announced Monday. He was 97. A Nationals spokesperson said Lerner died Sunday of complications from pneumonia at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. Lerner’s group purchased the Nationals from Major League Baseball in 2006 for $450 million after the team was moved to the U.S. capital from Montreal.