Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Karius’ two gaffes in the Champions League final effectively extinguished the Reds’hopes of a sixth European crown.
Former adult entertainer Mia Khalifa has rushed to publicly support goalkeeper Loris Karius, who has borne the brunt of a severe backlash from Liverpool fans after his two blunders cost the Reds dear in the 2018 Champions League final, telling him to ‘keep smiling’ and that ‘mistakes are human nature’.
Khalifa’s post, has gone viral, partly due to her message to Karius and partly due to the NSFW nature of her hashtag.
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Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos scuppered Liverpool’s chances of winning their sixth European crown by bringing down the Reds’ talismanic winger Mohamed Salah early on.
While the intent to injure cannot be proven, Ramos’ method was effective as Salah landed awkwardly and injured his shoulder/collarbone so severely that he could not play a further part in the final.
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While the scores were still 0-0 and theoretically Liverpool still remained in contention, the wind was knocked out of them by the Egyptian’s early exit.
And Karius then became the centre of attention as he gifted Real Madrid the opener by throwing the ball straight at Karim Benzema’s boot with such force that it tricked into the net without the French forward doing much.
Sadio Mane would restore parity for the Premier League side but substitute Gareth Bale sent the watching world into raptures with an incredible bicycle kick to put Real back in the lead.
Liverpool were still in it, but then disaster struck for the second time in 90 minutes as Bale’s speculative shot from distance somehow deceived Karius and it was effectively game over then.
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The German custodian cut a sorry figure at the full-time whistle, utterly disconsolate as he asked for forgiveness from the visiting Liverpool supporters.
Most of his teammates didn’t rush to console him, perhaps because of the fact that they were crestfallen themselves and many of them have got flak for their lack of empathy as well.
However, the worst was still to come for Karius as he was reportedly bombarded by death threats from rabid Liverpool fans on Twitter and Instagram.
What’s more disturbing is that his family has been targeted as well and the Merseyside Police have confirmed they are looking into the matter.
At least, the Lebanese-American Khalifa has come out in support of the German shot-stopper, who, if reports are to be believed, may have played his last game for the club.
The 25-year-old Khalifa has never shied from courting controversy and has repeatedly had confrontations with sports stars on social media, calling out those who try to ‘slide into my DMs’.
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