Loris Karius showed us just how deeply unfair the goalkeeper position is

Loris Karius will not sleep tonight.

The Liverpool goalie gave up two nightmare goals in the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday to Real Madrid, two goals which sealed Madrid’s 3-1 win over the Premier League side and gifted the Madridistas their third consecutive Champions League trophy.

And let’s not sell these short — these were truly awful mistakes. Karius gave up the first goal when he threw a ball nearly directly into Karim Benzema’s foot, who was just as surprised as anyone to see his outstretched leg catch the ball and send it into the goal.

After a Sadio Mane equalizer and then a worldy from Gale Bale to give Madrid a 2-1 lead, Karius then bungled a dipping shot from distance, again from Bale, and the match was done.

No one on earth was stopping Bale’s first goal, a bicycle kick I’m still not entirely sure was real, but the other two were squarely on Karius. Without those two mistakes, it’s a 1-1 game.

They were two moments that would put a great deal of stress on the Liverpool motto “You’ll never walk alone.” After Karius’ two howlers, the report from inside the stadium was that he was doing just that — handling his moment of infamy alone, no Liverpool teammates around him, just Real Madrid players coming over to console the keeper.

Karius deserves the blame for his mistakes, of course. He made them. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is all deeply unfair.

When you are a keeper, there’s almost no margin of error. Everywhere else on the pitch, for the most part, there is.

I’m reminded of a moment in the match when Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the three or so best players to ever live, found himself one-on-one in the box with Trent Alexander-Arnold, the 19-year-old Liverpool defender. Ronaldo got the ball on his right foot, hesitated, got Alexander leaning the wrong way ... and took a heavy touch that went out of bounds.

It was a nothing moment, really. A half-chance wasted. Ronaldo hung his head for a moment, then jogged back to his position.

Because of who he is and the player he is, Ronaldo can make that error. A gross touch that flies out of bounds is annoying for Madrid fans and Ronaldo’s teammates, sure, but it’s not a big deal, even if he should have done more with it.

Karius had no such luxury.

Misplaced passes happen constantly on a field. Bad touches even more often. It’s just everywhere else on the pitch there’s usually the chance for redemption or bailing out, or if not, the stakes are low enough it won’t matter. A shitty pass just sails out for a throw in. Fine. A bad touch wastes a chance, but nothing more. Even if you’re the last man and attempt a disastrous missed tackle, there’s always the chance the keeper will come out and bail you out with a brilliant save.

There are no bailouts when you play goalkeeper. There are no chances for redemption. If you throw the ball into Karim Benzema’s leg, there is no one behind you to save you. If you bungle a dipping screamer from Bale’s left foot, and it goes goalward, there is nothing left to do. You hang your head. You sit on the ground after the match, and try to hold back the tears.

Yes, I know keepers can use their hands. Yes, I know they have more space to make passes than most outfield players do. But a mistake is a mistake. Players elsewhere can make them, and keepers, by virtue of where they play on the field, can not.

I doubt this will console Karius. And I’m not advocating for any change or anything here — the position is what it is. It’s why I jokingly tell young players to go up and play striker, where you can play like crap for 89 minutes and be a hero, as opposed to keeper, where you can be brilliant for all but 10 seconds and lose your job.

I guess I just ask for a little empathy when it comes to Karius, who was brilliant all year in getting Liverpool this far, and had two moments he’d like back. I think we can afford him that.