A Champions League finalist has now entered the Newcastle United dressing room, but Loris Karius will understandably not be in a rush to relive that night with his new team-mates.
What should have been the proudest moment of Karius' career ended up turning into a nightmare that left the tearful goalkeeper unable to sleep after he was at fault for Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale's goals in Real Madrid's 3-1 win against Liverpool in 2018.
You can see why Karius, who was later found to have suffered a concussion during the game, never framed the gloves he wore that night. Instead, they were given to Daniel Jolley, his personal chef, immediately after the German got home.
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"Loris threw the gloves at me and went, 'It's done and dusted. We'll go again next year,'" Jolley told ChronicleLive. "That was it.
"He was upset - of course he was - because he got the blame for everything. He was getting all sorts of hate mail and s--- sent to him."
Perhaps, it is not a surprise that, in Jolley's own words, Karius was 'not himself for quite a few months after that'. However, rather than hiding away, Karius literally held his hands up to Liverpool supporters after the final before fronting up to the media.
It gives you just a little insight into Karius' character, which is an added bonus with this move for Newcastle, and Eddie Howe will have certainly done his homework on the goalkeeper's background. Yes, this may only be a short-term deal, but Howe will have been desperate not to disrupt the spirit in the dressing room after Karl Darlow went down with an ankle injury last week.
You can be sure Newcastle did their research - coach analyst Mark Leyland is among those who has previously worked with Karius at Liverpool - and the results of those background checks will have been as important to Howe as the 'keeper's prior Premier League experience. It takes a certain kind of individual, after all, to slot into a new group after the season has started and, also, to push and support his team-mates even when he is not playing. However, Karius already has recent experience of doing just that at both Liverpool and Union Berlin.
Among those who worked with Karius at Liverpool was Andy Renshaw, the club's former head of physiotherapy, who also did some consultancy work with Newcastle the season before last. Renshaw knows, first-hand, how the Newcastle squad will not 'tolerate massive egos' because they are 'very genuine people who love what they do', but the performance consultant has backed Karius to fit in 'perfectly'.
"Loris was very used to being around an English dressing room," Renshaw told ChronicleLive. "He wasn't short on confidence, but it wasn't misplaced either.
"He was very polite, very respectful. He didn't struggle to fit in at all. He was a very well-liked member of the squad from the players' perspective but, also, from a staff perspective, he took on everything we spoke about."
It is easy to forget, as Renshaw alluded to, that Karius already had experience of life in England before he even joined Liverpool from Mainz in 2016. In fact, the goalkeeper was snapped up by Man City just days after his 16th birthday.
Although Karius ultimately never played for the first team, those couple of years at City were crucial to his development on and off the field. In fact, Karius made so many friends in the area that, at one stage, the goalkeeper even lived in an apartment in Manchester city centre when he played for Liverpool many years later.
Like at Newcastle, today, Karius joined City nearly a year after a transformative takeover as former academy director Jim Cassell recalled when looking back on the Citizens youngster who had 'loads of spirit'.
"It was just in this transition period where the club was restructuring," Cassell told ChronicleLive. "He was always on the radar and it was well followed through to get him to come to the club.
"It's funny when you get lots of change. Some people benefit from it and some people don't. Loris possibly didn't benefit as much, but he would have been well cared for at City. Even though I didn't deal with him, I know the guys there were good people and will have done everything to try and give him the best possible chance."
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