After a Champions League final sent his trajectory off course, the goalkeeper gets an unlikely shot at glory with Newcastle
Four days after the 2018 Champions League final, Jürgen Klopp got a call from Franz Beckenbauer. Like everyone, the legendary former Germany captain and coach had seen the game in Kyiv, seen Liverpool losing 3-1 to Real Madrid after a pair of blunders by their goalkeeper Loris Karius. And something about it hadn’t quite looked right. After a conversation with a doctor, he picked up the phone to Klopp. “Your goalkeeper had a concussion,” Beckenbauer told Klopp.
An armchair diagnosis, for sure, but one that intrigued Klopp enough to make further inquiries. The next day Karius was flown to Boston where he had rigorous tests at the Spaulding Rehabilitation hospital. The concussion assessment consists of a checklist of 30 symptoms, including headache, light sensitivity, loss of memory and nausea. Five days after the biggest game of his life, Karius still had 26 of the 30 clinical signs of concussion.
