Former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius spoke candidly to The Shields Gazette recently and discussed his performance in the League Cup Final for Newcastle last Sunday.
Karius was unable to do anything about Casemiro’s header that made it 1-0 and was unlucky to concede a deflected shot from Marcus Rashford that doubled Manchester United’s lead. Karius did pull out some impressive saves in the remainder of the game but his team was unable to make a comeback.
Karius did not initially realize that he would likely be starting the final when he saw his no.1 goalkeeper at Newcastle Nick Pope get a red card in the Premier League against Newcastle, thus earning himself a suspension for the final.
“I was watching the [Liverpool] game and I didn’t realise in the first moment that [Dubravka] was cup-tied because in Germany it’s different,” Karius admitted. “Then my phone went off quite a bit so I knew then I’d probably be playing.
“That wakes you up obviously because things can change quickly and from then on it was just about having a great week to try and go into the game full of confidence.”
Karius was happy with the majority of his performance in the final.
“I just tried to do my job and I thought I did pretty well for the time I was out,” he added. “It’s not easy as a goalkeeper to get straight into a rhythm in a game like this but I think I did quite well but ultimately I wish we would have brought home the cup of course. Whatever is to come, I don’t know right now.”
Karius is unfortunately remembered by Liverpool fans largely for his performance in the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid, in which the German made two bad errors that lead to goals. Madrid won the game 3-1.
It was later revealed that Karius was suffering from a concussion five days after the final. The German did not start for Liverpool again.
Karius spent some time out on loan to several clubs but left Liverpool permanently to join Newcastle last summer.
“It’s not been the easiest couple of years, a lot of set-backs but I’ve just tried to keep on working and it’s the work people don’t really see so that when an opportunity like this comes you are ready to go into the games with a good feeling.
“Football is not always easy, it’s fun when you’re at the top but not so fun when you’re at the bottom.
“I’ve experienced both in my career but I’ve learnt from everything and I’m still hungry and I feel like I’ve still got a lot of years to play and I’ve shown [against Manchester United] that I don’t need to hide anything and that I can still perform at this level.”
Karius was hopeful that Newcastle will find themselves in a final again soon.
“If we won the cup it would have been a great story of course but unfortunately it’s not the dream ending,” said the German. “Who knows, maybe we’ll be here again with Newcastle and maybe I’ll play another one.
“You never know in football and I think this last week has shown me again that in football everything is possible, up and down. Who knows, I’m not writing anything off and hopefully the story will have a very good ending one day.”
