Liverpool goalkeepers have emerged as the epitomes of Liverpool’s inconsistency and continued struggles in the Champions League. Maybe if it were not for Loris Karius’ mistakes, Liverpool could have won two consecutive UCL titles.
2018 UCL Final
In the 2018 Champions League finals, Karius threw the ball at Benzema and the striker didn’t waste time to slot in the first goal. Substitute Gareth Bale came in for Isco in the first 61st minute and scored a ridiculous overhead kick. Of course, the goal was unstoppable. But the third goal, which settled the game, was Karius’ mistake. Bale fired a shot at Karius. And instead of the goalkeeper punching away the ball or making a clearance, he pushed the goal into his net.
What made people criticize Karius is because the shot didn’t appear to be very powerful. Even an inexperienced keeper wouldn’t have let that goal in. Even the man of the match, Bale, knew that it was a mistake. He approached Liverpool’s goalkeeper after the match and said, ‘Keep your head up. Mistakes happen…’
2020 Last 16 Tie versus Athletico Madrid
Even Virgil van Dijk claimed that it was somehow hard to accept their defeat to Athletico due to Adrian’s mistakes. Virgil said, “But Adrian’s misjudgement seemed to turn the game around. You win together, you lose together.” And he added, “Things happen in matches. We lost. That’s tough to take.” It appears like van Dijk was trying to throw his teammate under the bus, but the truth is that Liverpool didn’t qualify because of Adrian.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead through strikes from Wijnaldum and Firmino, Liverpool let that slip away by allowing Llorente and Morata to score. Admittedly, Adrian was largely at fault for Rojiblancos’ first goal. Adrian made a poor clearance, which saw substitute Llorente clear from 20 yards out. The goalkeeper even slipped as he tried to correct his mistake. As if that wasn’t enough, he misjudged Athletico’s third goal.