Gary Neville has recalled how he bumped into former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius after publicly criticising his performances, which left him feeling “guilty.”
Karius was a lightning rod for criticism throughout his time at Anfield, and though it peaked with the Champions League final, he had his detractors long before then.
With a series of shaky performances on the domestic stage – including a goal kick that went straight out for a corner against Sunderland and an error in a 4-3 collapse at Bournemouth – it was clear he was a goalkeeper short of confidence.
That defeat to Bournemouth led Neville to argue that Karius “transmits anxiety” throughout the Liverpool defence – which prompted the German to retort: “I don’t care what Gary Neville said.”
Not long after, the pair met in unlikely circumstances, with Neville reliving his embarrassment in an episode of Stick to Football.
“I’d been quite direct about him for a period of two or three months,” he explained.
“Liverpool were closer under Jurgen Klopp and getting better and I just said ‘they’ll never, ever win the league with that guy in the net’.
“And to be fair, it’s a strong line that for a young goalkeeper. It was probably true [given] he made the mistake in the Champions League final.
“It was like three or four months before the Champions League final and I actually bumped [into him].
“I go to Italy, to this hotel, and I walked into the gym, me with Emma (his wife) and we’re doing a session with the fitness trainer, doing hopscotch and things like that.
“And there’s just this big bloke, massive, literally lifting these massive weights and I’ve thought ‘it’s Karius…’.
“[I went] ‘hiya mate, you alright?’. He could have done many things there. He could have had a go at me.
“It went right through my head what I’d said about him and I know he would have known that.
“He shook my hand and said ‘nice to see you’. It made me think, and you feel guilty when you bump into someone that you think you’ve given a harsh line.”
It speaks to Karius’ maturity, even then at 23, that he was able to shake Neville’s hand despite his very public and arguably unfair criticism.
This has been the narrative of the goalkeeper’s career ever since leaving Mainz for Liverpool in 2016 – and speaking last month he revealed he has even considered retirement as he finds himself a free agent.
