Loris Karius: Newcastle keeper can forget Champions League at Wembley

The 29-year-old, who has not made a competitive appearance for anyone since February 2021, joined the Magpies as a free agent in September, but is yet to appear for the club.

Who is the German shot-stopper? And why will he be attempting to restore his reputation when he features in Newcastle’s first major final for 24 years?

THE EARLY YEARS

Born in southern Germany, Karius was a talented motocross rider as a child and might well have pursued a career on two wheels had his footballing journey not taken off during his teenage years.

He played for German non-league teams SG Mettenberg and SSV Ulm 1846 before getting his big break with Stuttgart, where he impressed sufficiently to make the Germany Under-16s team.

Having attracted the attention of scouts from across Europe, Karius was invited for a trial with Manchester City and joined the academy set-up at the Etihad shortly after turning 16 in 2009.

He played for Manchester City’s Under-21 team, but returned to his homeland in Germany after an initial loan spell at Mainz was turned into a permanent transfer on 2012.

He made his Bundesliga debut at the age of just 19, and spent five years with Mainz, during which time he was voted as the second-best goalkeeper in the German top-flight behind Manuel Neuer.

His performances with Mainz led to an offer from Liverpool, and in the summer of 2016, he completed a £4.75m move to Anfield.

LIFE AT LIVERPOOL

Karius’ time as a Liverpool player might have come to an inglorious end, but in the early days of his Anfield career, the German was regarded as a promising goalkeeper whose propensity to make errors could be balanced against his ability to produce world-class saves.

He made his Premier League debut in September 2016, and the following month, after he kept a clean sheet against Manchester United, Jurgen Klopp confirmed that he had displaced Simon Mignolet as Liverpool’s number one.

That decision was reversed a couple of months later, when Karius spilled a shot from Lewis Cook, enabling Nathan Ake to tap home a 90th-minute winner in a 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth, and for the second half of the 2016-17 season, Karius’ only senior involvement came in the domestic cup competitions.

He played in Liverpool’s Champions League group games in the first half of the following season, and was restored to the Premier League line-up at the turn of the year.

His performances remained erratic – he made gaffes that went unpunished in both legs of the Champions League semi-final against Roma – but with Mignolet having fallen out of favour, his performances in the league were sufficiently solid for Klopp to opt to keep faith with him for the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CALAMITY

Whatever happens in Sunday’s final at Wembley, Karius’ performance in the 2018 Champions League final will remain the defining moment of his career.

He was badly at fault for Real Madrid’s opening goal in the Spanish side’s 3-1 win, with his attempted throw-out striking Karim Benzema and rebounding into the net, and erred again as Gareth Bale wrapped things up in the final minute, mishandling the Welshman’s 40-yard shot and bundling the ball into his own net.

However, moments before he had committed his first error, he had been elbowed in the head by Real defender Sergio Ramos, an incident that resulted in him complaining to the referee, but did not lead to him receiving medical treatment.

Back then, concussion protocols were much more lax than they are today, but five days after the final, Karius underwent an examination at the Massachusetts General Hospital and medics concluded he had suffered a concussion during the game. The doctors who examined him could not categorically link the concussion to his errors, but a number of leading specialists have subsequently stated that the after-effects of the concussion could have adversely affected his performance.

Speaking to the BBC, British neurosurgeon Dr Willie Stewart said: “One of things that happens to people with concussion is deep down in the brain the very fine nerve fibres get damaged, and the fibres that come from the eyes and spread to the brain are in the area where damage can occur.

“So, it’s not that unusual for people with concussion to have subtle visual symptoms, such as the eyes not moving as quickly as they should or not focusing as well as they should. You get a sense of double vision or difficulty tracking objects and that can lead to problems in a fast-moving match.”

Jurgen Klopp has subsequently accepted that Karius was concussed, but the fall-out from the final was still extremely damaging for the keeper. He was the subject of online death threats, and less than two months after the final, Liverpool broke the world-record fee for a goalkeeper, splashing out £56m to sign Alisson in a move that effectively signalled the end of Karius’ time on Merseyside.

IN THE WILDERNESS

While Karius’ was frozen out at Liverpool in the wake of his Champions League mishaps, he still had four years of his contract with the club remaining.

He did not make another senior appearance for the Reds in those four seasons, instead spending time on loan at Turkish side Beskitas and German club Union Berlin.

He fared reasonably well during his two-year loan with Besiktas, making 67 appearances as his temporary employers finished third in the Turkish Super Lig for two seasons in a row, although he was criticised for a couple of high-profile errors in the Europa League and eventually returned to England after a pay dispute could not be resolved.

His time with Union Berlin was less successful as he made just four Bundesliga appearances as the German side qualified for Europe, and while Union had negotiated a clause that would have enabled them to complete a permanent transfer in the summer of 2021, they opted not to trigger it.

Karius returned to Merseyside and saw out the final year of his Liverpool deal as the club’s fifth-choice goalkeeper, denied a place in Klopp’s Premier League squad.

MOVING TO THE MAGPIES

Having been released by Liverpool in the summer, Karius was offered a surprise career lifeline by Newcastle last September when Eddie Howe found himself needing to secure short-term cover for the injured Karl Darlow, with the Magpies’ other senior goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka, having been loaned to Manchester United.

“We were looking at a limited pool of goalkeepers, but he was the name that immediately stood out,” said Howe. “We were looking at out-of-contract goalkeepers who were free and available, but we couldn't have picked a better one.”

Karius first appeared on Newcastle’s substitute bench for the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth in mid-September, and while he dropped back out of the squad once Darlow returned to full fitness, he impressed sufficiently for Howe to turn his initial short-term deal, which was due to expire in January, into a contract to the end of the season.

While Darlow left to join Hull City on loan last month, Dubravka’s return from Manchester United meant there looked like being very little chance of Karius being thrust into senior action – until events took an unexpected turn when Nick Pope was sent off against Liverpool last weekend.

With Dubravka cup-tied, and Darlow unable to be recalled, Karius finds himself preparing to walk out at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.

“He comes with a wealth of experience, and he’s used to these games,” said Howe. “He’s accustomed to them. Yes, he hasn’t had competitive action for a long time, but he’s fit and ready to play.”