Liverpool: Loris Karius Received Death Threats and Wanted to Quit at 25

· GiveMeSport

Life as a Premier League footballer isn't always as it seems; just ask this former Liverpool star.

Life as a Premier League footballer isn't always as incredible as it appears from the outside looking in. It would be hard to imagine that any player from Jurgen Klopp's era at Liverpool felt so low that he wanted to walk away from the sport altogether.

Unfortunately, footballers are one bad performance away from receiving abuse, with social media often filled with abhorrent comments. Just ask Marcus Rashford , Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, who received all kinds of abuse for simply missing penalties in the Euro 2020 final.

Losing on the biggest stage, and being blamed, is a feeling goalkeeper Loris Karius knows all too well. The German shot-stopper looked like he was going to be Liverpool's first-choice for many years, until the 2018 Champions League final.

Karius had taken Simon Mignolet's place in the Reds' team on the way to the final against Real Madrid . That night in Kyiv should've been the highlight of his career, but it turned his whole world upside down.

Klopp's team were the better side for large parts of the game, but fell behind in the second-half when Karius threw the ball directly off Karim Benzema and into the net.

He later flapped at a Gareth Bale long shot, and he would never play for Liverpool again. Karius' name is now synonymous with costing the English giants that night, even eight years later.

Despite being contracted to the Merseysiders until 2022, Karius was sent on loan to Besiktas and Union Berlin before being released. That could've been the end of his time in football.

Speaking in 2026, the shot-stopper opened up on how he lost his love for football after the mistakes vs Madrid. "Up until that point, my career had been on a steep upward trajectory, then I suddenly crashed – all the way to rock bottom," he told Welt.de .

> "It was extremely tough, especially since at the time, in my mid-20s, I wasn't as settled as I am now. Quite honestly, during that period, I lost my love for football. I no longer wanted to train, no longer wanted to play.

> "I didn't care about any of that. I was just miserable and felt like I had no one who could help me out of that hole. They were difficult years.

> "I just felt empty. I even considered ending my career, but I was only 25 years old and couldn’t just stay home. During that period, I felt like nobody understood me."

Now 33 and back at the top of his game for Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04, Karius has revealed he and his family received death threats. Following these threats, the police protected his house 24/7.

He recently said (per Sport Witness ): "I didn’t read the threats, but there were death threats against me and my family.

> "Things the police took seriously enough to stand guard at my place 24 hours a day. It’s not exactly a great feeling when you see the police having to stand guard at your home."

Karius' wife, Diletta Leotta, even confirmed that her husband considered leaving the sport behind. Fortunately for the pair, he is now impressing with Schalke , who he helped back into the top-flight of German football earlier this year.

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