If Loris Karius was ever to do one of those viral videos where celebrities answer the most googled questions about themselves you can be guaranteed that the most popular search term would be 'What was Loris Karius thinking?'
While fans were worried about his solidity between the sticks long before the final, nobody was expecting the extent of the nightmare that unfolded on Saturday night. How could it happen? Speaking on ESPN in the aftermath, former Premier League goalkeeper, Shaka Hislop simply put it down to inexperience and being overeager in implementing Liverpool's tactics.
"As I look back on the mistakes, this is where experience matters. I am convinced that Jurgen Klopp said to Liverpool 'Do everything quickly. Let's go at Real Madrid with pace. Don't give them a moment to rest.'" While Karius' roll-out to Karim Benzema seemed inexplicable, Hislop maintains he got caught up in trying to implement the gameplan, rather than managing the situation.
And here's where the experience matters. Loris Karius, young, inexperienced goalkeeper - certainly at this level. That first goal, he gets the ball in his hands and the first thing he's thinking about is get play restarted, 'Let me roll it to Dejan Lovern and put Real Madrid on the backfoot as quickly and as best as we can.' Without ever stopping and just taking a moment and making sure that Benzema clears out, and as a result the ball ends up in the back of the net.
Even for the third goal, Hislop believes Karius was not only unnerved but also too focused on getting Liverpool moving forward again. Insterestingly his points to the feet position of the goalkeeper:
Then you get the quick response and Karius is relieved. Then there's the Bale goal and now all of a sudden Karius is back into those moments where he's being haunted, thinking 'If we lose here by two goals to one I'm at fault yet again.' Shot comes in from distance and, as much as this ball is moving from Gareth Bale, look at Karius' feet. I am convinced that yet again he is thinking 'Let me make this save and put Real Madrid on the backfoot.'
When the ball arrives at him his feet are almost in a straddle position as though he's trying to run forward with it before making the save. And this is where, we talking about it and the value of it, particularly when it comes to Real Madrid, this is where experience matters.
Obviously there was nothing wrong per se with Liverpool's tactics but as anyone who's played sport can attest to, there are those moments when you need to just take a breath, manage the situation and not roll the ball out to a world class striker.
You can watch Hislop's analysis below:
