Although a quintet of their stars are still involved in the World Cup, Liverpool reported back for pre-season on Monday, with new signings Fabinho and Naby Keita joining those uninvolved in international duty this summer.
Jurgen Klopp has kept a low profile since the Champions League final defeat in Kiev, but granted the club's official website an interview this week as he returned to work. Among the topics covered was the concussion suffered by Loris Karius immediately prior to tossing a ball in off Karim Benzema's leg.
Days after the final, it emerged that Karius had undergone medical examinations that confirmed he had suffered a concussion in a clash with Sergio Ramos.
Speaking to the club's website, Klopp revealed that Franz Beckenbauer phoned him to say that Karius had suffered a concussion in the clash with Ramos.
After four days I got a call from Franz Beckenbauer, our Bobby Moore, our biggest football player who is a good friend of mine. He called me and said he came from a doctor, he told me: ‘your goalkeeper had a concussion.’ I said, ‘what?’ because in the game, from my position that situation is not very good to see: ‘maybe there was contact or not.’ I told him immediately, ‘OK’. He said the doctor is the most famous doctor in Germany. I said: ‘OK, give me a few minutes, I have to fix a few things.’
I got all the pictures from different perspectives, saw it and thought: ‘how can we all think that the boy who didn’t show any weakness in that game until then made these big mistakes in a very important game and nobody thinks it’s because of the knock he got?’ How can we think that? That was, for me, the explanation and I thought: ‘OK, come on, we need to check that.’
I thought it was too late, you cannot check that. But now I know a concussion isn’t coming and going in a day – if you have one, you see it days later. Five days after the final, Loris had 26 of 30 markers for a concussion still. That’s clear.
Klopp says that Liverpool will use the concussion as an explanation, rather than an excuse.
We don’t use it as an excuse, we use it as an explanation. That’s always important, that’s what analysis should be: you explain why things happen. So, from this point of view, from my side everything is fine. We don’t think about that anymore and we start completely new.
Reports suggest that Liverpool have been priced out of a deal for Roma and Brazil 'keeper Allison Becker, meaning that Karius may continue as No. 1.
See Also: Watch: Lloris Karius Ego Appears Untouched In Conceited Promo Vid
