Newcastle may be forced to give Loris Karius first game in two years

Carabao Cup final place not enough for Eddie Howe and Newcastle

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Newcastle may be forced to give Loris Karius his first game in two years in the Carabao Cup final after Nick Pope’s red card against Liverpool. The England international will serve a one-match ban against Manchester United and cannot be replaced by no 2 Martin Dubravka as he is cup-tied. 

Pope received his marching orders against Liverpool after a moment of madness halfway through the first half. The former Burnley man handled the ball far outside his box denying Mohamed Salah a clear goalscoring opportunity. 

The 30-year-old will now miss the Carabao Cup final next Sunday leaving Eddie Howe with a severe selection headache. Second choice Dubravka is cup-tied ironically playing for the Red Devils while on loan earlier in the season. Karl Darlow has now joined Hull on loan leaving Karius and Mark Gillespie the only options available. 

The German will be the favourite to start after regularly appearing on the bench earlier in the season with Gillespie further down the pecking order. Karius has not played a senior match in two years with his last appearance coming for Union Berlin in a 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim in 2021. 

Karius is well-known to fans of English football following his disastrous spell with Liverpool. The German’s career will always be synonymous with the 2018 Champions League final where he made two high profile errors to cost the Reds the trophy. 

He never featured for the club again in the aftermath, spending two years on loan at Besiktas before spending a year with Union Berlin during the 2020/21 season. He failed to break into the first team while in the Bundesliga so his deal was not made permanent, meaning he spent the final year of his Liverpool career on the sidelines. 

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