If you happen to possess even the vaguest shred of human empathy, you’ll no doubt be feeling for Loris Karius today.
The German goalkeeper dropped a couple of industrial-grade clangers as Liverpool succumbed to Real Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday night, ending the evening alone, disconsolate and in floods of tears at the far end of the Olimpiyskiy Stadium as most of his teammates and colleagues gave him a notable (and thoroughly disappointing) wide berth.
Karius in tears, apologizes to Liverpool fans pic.twitter.com/sU3za6UaIu
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) May 26, 2018
Speaking to the press immediately after the match, Karius did his best to articulate his emotions, offering a heart-wrenching apology to the travelling fans and to the club as a whole:
I don’t feel anything right now. Today I lost my team the game. I feel sorry for everyone. I’m sorry for everyone, for the team, for the whole club.
The mistakes cost us dearly. If I could go back in time I would.
I just feel sorry for my team. I know I let them down today.
It is very hard right now, but that is the life of a goalkeeper. You have got to get your head up again.
For now, I’m just really sorry for everyone that those goals cost us the title basically.
The poor guy. He made just as many errors as any other Liverpool player on that pitch but unfortunately his were calamitous and decisive.
Pies understand that the rest of the team were all entitled to a moment of private grief after the match, but surely Jurgen Klopp – or at least his captain, Jordan Henderson – should have been straight over to Karius, who was obviously and visibly in tatters, as soon as the whistle went. Bit of a blot, that.
Hopefully, the sympathy and support was a little more forthcoming once everybody was corralled back into the dressing room.
We can only imagine how grim Karius is feeling today. Our heart truly goes out to the guy.
It looks like it’s going to take a monumental effort for him to get back on an even keel, which is a shame as every aspect of his game has improved leaps and bounds this season just gone.