Newcastle United goalkeeper Loris Karius has a surprising friendship with Justin Bieber, one of the most famous pop singers in the world. The famous popster is frequently linked with soccer.
The former Liverpool keeper is back in the media spotlight as he is expected to make his debut for new club Newcastle United in The Carabao Cup final against Manchester United on Sunday. It will be his first professional match since February 2021.
Newcastle’s first choice keeper Nick Pope was recently red carded in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool and will thus miss the final through suspension. Second goalkeeper Martin Dubravka is cup-tied as he has already played for Manchester United on loan in the Carabao Cup twice this season.
Third-choice goalkeeper Karl Darlow is currently on loan to Championship Hull and cannot be recalled.
Karius will play his first game for an English club if he is eventually chosen. His last game was for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid. He made a series of mistakes that led to his team losing the final.
Soon after his disastrous game, he was loaned to Turkish club Besiktas for two seasons and then joined Union Berlin in the Bundesliga. After becoming a free agent, he joined Newcastle in September 2022.
Now Loris Karius can have his redemption story if he can stop Manchester United and a certain pop star could be cheering for him.
Justin and Karius apparently met in 2015 when they were both on vacation in Miami. Justin complimented the tattoo of Karius forming an unlikely bond between the pair. They exchanged numbers and later went to a concert together.
Karius became friends with Canadian singer Justin Bieber after meeting him while on holiday in Miami during the summer of 2015; the heavily tattooed Karius stated that: "we were in the same hotel, [Bieber] admired my tattoos and I responded to it. He was cool."
— lucas (@lucasmoraiscr) May 26, 2018
Karius described the story of the meeting in a 2016 interview saying, “We just met on holiday randomly last year.”
“We were staying at the same place in Miami. He liked my tattoos. He was asking me about them and then we got talking. That’s how it started.”
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was asked if he can trust Karius for the final and his words were, “I’ve never really discussed [2018 final] at any length with him We’ve all got stuff that’s happened in our careers and our histories that you learn from and he’s no different in that respect.
“Since day one, since he’s come here, he started where he hadn’t had a lot of work before joining us, he’s trained with our goalkeeper coaches in a really good way and I think his general performances in training have improved as he’s spent more time with us.
“I think he’s in a good place and he’s ready to play.”
The final at Wembley will be Newcastle’s first cup final with the last time being in 1999. Karius will be carrying the support of all the Toons fans as they await history in the making.
