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Giulio Donati defends Loris Karius after ‘unfair’ Liverpool treatment
A former teammate of Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius has lept to the German’s defence after a tough 18 months.
The goalkeeper has been out on loan at Besiktas since the summer of 2018, after enduring a nightmare in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
The former Mainz player was at fault twice against the Spanish heavyweights, gifting goals to Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
It was decided that Karius would head to Turkey to try and rebuild some confidence and form after the incredibly tough night.
In the eyes of Giulio Donati – Karius’ former Mainz teammate – though, the Reds were wrong to send him on a two-year, seeing it as more of a banishing.
: “Unfortunately, the media and all the people around football chose to blow up on a mistake.
“But we haven’t to forget that Liverpool reached that final even thanks to him.
He was a young guy who had made a mistake in a final. It’s true that it was a very important match, but it could happen and it shouldn’t have deleted all the good things he had done.
“I’m sure he would have done well in the following years at Liverpool, but sadly we will not have the evidence now he’s in Turkey.”
Although he’s shown patches of good form over the last 18 months, it’s been a largely unsuccessful spell in Turkey for the mistake-prone Karius, new Besiktas manager Sergen Yalcin wants to replace him.
TBR’s view – Liverpool made the right choice
Donati was clearly good friends with Karius at Mainz and the fierce criticism would not have been nice to read for him as well as the goalkeeper.
Liverpool’s decision probably can’t really be questioned though, as a loan move could really have helped Karius to escape the microscope and go and get himself back on track.
Had he remained at Anfield, every little thing he did in the aftermath of the final would have been scrutinised.
If anything, Liverpool attempted to protect the player. The didn’t brutally sell him, they just gave him the chance to rebuild out of the spotlight.