THE SPORT SCAN – Without tongue in cheek, Loris Karius confided in Sports Bible and returned six years later to his failed final in Liverpool's Champions League goal against Real. Match that traumatized him and ruined his career.
The mourning has not yet been done, six years after his failed match leading to the defeat of Liverpool in the final of the Champions League, the former Reds goalkeeper Loris Karius spoke to Sport Bible on this evening of May 26, 2018, the turning point in his life directly leading to the end of his sporting career.
However, it was an evening that was supposed to reveal it, at 24 years old, the German, author of a good season with Liverpool, had managed to secure a starting place in the Liverpool cages to try to win the Champions League against the Meringue. But that evening, the match of his life, turned into a nightmare. In the space of 90 minutes, he became the laughing stock of European football, committing two gross errors which gave Real as many goals and precipitated his team's defeat. “I had a hard time getting over it” says the German, now 31 years old.
If two weeks later, doctors were able to excuse his failed performance by diagnosing him with a concussion that occurred a few minutes before conceding his two gag goals (on contact with Sergio Ramos in the 49th), for general opinion the problem was already done…
“Everything I did was scrutinized”
In the summer of 2018, after his failed performance, Karius flew to Besiktas to quickly bounce back, but his reputation preceded him. “Everything I did was scrutinized. It was so extreme. Even at other clubs, when I was trying to gain the trust of a manager or get playing time when I felt like I deserved it… It's understandable in a way, but it's frustrating when there's not much else you can do to change their minds.” The former Reds never found a N1 position, neither in Türkiye, nor at Union Berlin or at Newcastle. “So many things happened when I was already fragile. It was chaos. I didn't get paid for five or six months and had to take my own club to court. It's not something you like or want to do, but I didn't really have a choice. I thought I could go to Türkiye, recharge my batteries and make a fresh start. But it became even more chaotic.”
Early retirement?
Without a club since the end of his contract with Newcastle this summer, Loris Karius has said no to Saudi Arabia and intends to say stop playing football if no interesting offer reaches him within a year. In the meantime, the goalkeeper is still without a club since his contract with Newcastle ended this summer. As a reminder, the German returned to Liverppol in the summer of 2021 after an inconclusive loan to Union Berlin in Germany. During his stay in England, he spent a full year on the sidelines of the group: “From there, things went downhill, step by step. When you are deprived of playing time for a year or two, it is not easy to get back in goal at the highest level.
Without a sporting project, the German devotes himself to other activities and says he is already ready to end his football career: “When you are in my situation, you have to consider it. I haven't made a decision yet because it's not necessary. I'm still in good shape. I still have all the potential and abilities needed. But if a door doesn't open, I have to be honest and say to myself, 'Look, I have a lot of other things to do. I have many other things to do that I'm passionate about, that I love and that I'm invested in. I don’t think it would hit me that hard because I’ve already been through this process over the last few years.”
