Can Karius secure Liverpool future by outshining Roma’s Alisson?

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Liverpool face Serie A club AS Roma in the semi-final of the Champions League at Anfield on Tuesday night.

There was no shortage of fans or pundits queuing up to write off Loris Karius after a worrying first 18 months at Liverpool, where the German goalkeeper failed to overthrow Simon Mignolet and looked a nervous wreck every time he stepped foot on the football pitch.

But since manager Jurgen Klopp put himself on the line and announced Karius as Liverpool’s number one goalkeeper back in January, the £4.3 million signing from Mainz has responded excellently.

Karius has enjoyed a David de Gea style rise in English football and has played every game in both the Premier League and Champions League for the last three months.

But he is perhaps about to embark on the biggest test of his Liverpool career to date in the Champions League semi-final against Roma on Tuesday night.

Because not only is this the biggest stage of Karius’s career; he will also go up against the man tipped to arrive at Anfield this summer.

According to the Mirror, Liverpool are big fans of Brazil international Alisson Becker, whose performances for Roma this season have seen some label him the best shot-stopper in European football.

It is understood that Alisson would command a world-record transfer fee, beating the £35 million Manchester City paid for fellow Samba star Ederson Moraes last summer, as reported by the BBC.

So Karius really cannot afford for those jitters to return as he aims to prove that he, rather than Alisson, should be lining up between the sticks at Anfield next season.