Loris Karius’ confident Newcastle United message after missing Liverpool redemption ‘dream’

The 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat against Manchester United was Karius’ first competitive match for an English club since he played for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final. The Reds were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid with Karius directly at fault for two goals.

He spent time on loan at Besiktas and Union Berlin before being released by Liverpool last summer and signing for Newcastle as a free agent in September.

A suspension to Nick Pope and cup tie for Martin Dubravka thrust the German goalkeeper into the spotlight for The Magpies’ first major cup final in 24 years.

It was a turn of events that came as something of a surprise to the 29-year-old.

“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.”

Although Karius conceded twice to a Casemiro header and a heavily deflected Marcus Rashford strike, he was content with his individual performance as he made a few smart saves in the game.

“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.”

Reflecting on his time away from competitive football in England, Karius continued: “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.”

While it wasn’t to be for Karius or Newcastle on this occasion, the goalkeeper remains hopeful of turning things around after an encouraging cup final display.

“If we won the cup it would have been a great story of course but unfortunately it's not the dream ending,” he said. “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.”