The European Champions' Cup Final, 2018

Greetings, gentle readers.
I'm going to spend the majority of time in this post talking about Liverpool FC's participation in the European Cup Final of 2018.  There's a whiff of conspiracy and some photographic evidence, so if you enjoy that sort of thing, it might be worth a read.  If you don't, I've got a random list of songs that might have some sort of prognosticatory value.  I'll lead off with that, so that the athletophobes can just skip the remainder.  Cheers.

Random Track List

• Bitterblue, by Cat Stevens
• Carry Me Carrie, by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
• Gabriel's Mother's Highway Ballad #16 Blues, by Arlo Guthrie
• Mr. Blue Sky, by the Electric Light Orchestra

Konfusion in Kyiv

I'm going to be as uncharacteristically sparse in my descriptions as possible here to spare my readers' time and cut straight to the chase.  Liverpool lost the world's biggest football club game on 26 May by a score of three goals to one.  There were some bits of controversy, particularly since two of the goals scored by their opponents were due to spectacular Liverpudlian goaltending failures.  Here's a quick summary of the game.
The game starts brightly, with Liverpool playing a pressing game versus Real Madrid's tiki-taka tactics.  This means that the Spanish club was playing to keep possession, and hope to move the ball forward into promising attacking positions through accurate passing and positional distribution.  Liverpool's plan was to allow Madrid to have possession, but to harry any Madrid players with the ball into making a mistake and creating an interception.
The game was fast-paced and exciting to watch in terms of athleticism and rapidity of movement, but for all of their energy and enthusiasm, LFC were unable to turn several promising opportunities into goals.  Then, in the 26th minute, this happened:

 Sergio Ramos (Number 4, wearing the captain's armband) uses his left arm to lock Mohamed Salah's right arm at the elbow, and then throws his left leg in front of Salah, tripping him.  As thew two fall to the ground, Ramos twists his body so that their combined weight falls on Salah's extended and locked right shoulder, snapping it.  Liverpool's top goal scorer for the year is injured and has to leave the game.

 By the 37th minute, Liverpool have clearly been in the ascendency, having forced two corners and taken nine shots on the Madrid net, but they are now without their most prolific attacker, and have been forced to substitute on Adam Lallana, recently recovered from long-term injuries.

 Click on the image above to see the video of what happened just a few minutes after the game restarted, following halftime.  Madrid had earned a corner.  As the corner was taken, Sergio Ramos gave a ringing great elbow to the side of Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius' head.  On the following sequence, Karius receives the ball, and immediately throws it at Madrid forward Karim Benzema.  The ball hits Benzema's foot and rolls into the Liverpool net.  One - nil  to the Spanish team.

 Karius is shown here looking a bit blank following the goal.  Just four minutes later, Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren outjumps Ramos (again) at a corner and nods to ball down to winger Sadio Mane.  The Senegalese winger pokes the ball past Madrid 'keeper Jesus Navas, and the game is tied at one.

 Here we can see Karius' reaction to his team equalizing the score.  Fewer than ten minutes later, however, Madrid substitute Gareth Bale unleashes an unstoppable overhead kick that screams into the top corner of the Liverpool net.  Karius has no chance, and the Spaniards lead the game by a score of two goals to one.

 Karius again seems somewhat phlegmatic about having surrendered two goals in a European Cup Final.

Again, you may want to click on the image to see what happens with fewer than eight minutes remaining in the game.  Gareth Bale collects the ball on the right wing and hits a speculative, long-distance drive towards the net.  Karius extends his arms and allows the ball to hit him in the hands... whereupon they deflect the ball at a strange 135° angle and into the net.  Final score:  Real Madrid 3 - 1 Liverpool FC.
It is a fairly simple premise to suggest that the two catastrophic goalkeeping mistakes made by Loris Karius should never be made by a professional at this level.  In fact, they should not be made by a 12-year-old Victorian-era orphan with malnutrition, rickets, and consumption.  A 24 year-old pro that makes either of these mistakes has just ended his career and will now have to find another source of income for his family, as well as endure the enmity, scorn, and suspicion of the entire community surrounding the sport.  So why commit professional suicide?

Theory One - Concussion

The elbow that Sergio Ramos delivered to Karius' ear in the 48th minute is now suspected to have caused a concussion that adversely affected his performance thereafter.  This LINK reports that the Massachusetts General Hospital has diagnosed the head injury and the potential results.  A more detailed report can be found HERE.
If the man had a bruised brain, it would certainly go a long way to explain why he essentially scored two goals into his own net.  His neutral emotional responses to the goals would therefore be less phlegmatic and more dazed in nature.

Theory Two - Crooked Business

For those who enjoy a good conspiracy theory, this one goes something along these lines:

• Some sort of gambling concern or conglomerate has an interest in Real Madrid winning the game within 90 minutes; no extra time, no penalty shootout.
• Something fishy goes on with Ramos, as he rampages about and knocks Liverpool's premier goal-scorer out of the game with no disciplinary action - no free kick, no yellow card, not even a glance from the referee.
• At half-time, Salah is gone, but the game is still tied and hangs in the balance.  A lot of money is at stake, and some phone calls/texts are exchanged during the interval.  More intervention is required.
• Ramos bangs Karius, another foul without any notice from the officials.  
• Karius scores on himself by banking the ball off Karim Benzema.  Is he concussed?  Is there a gun pointed at the head of his dachshund? Either way, something is off.
• Liverpool equalize, but Karius is either too woozy to understand what's going on, or he realizes that he will have to concede more goals for Madrid to win.
• Bale scores a beautiful overhead bicycle kick, meaning that the scoreline is now safe for those betting on Madrid.  Karius seems relieved.
• With time ticking down, Liverpool start to throw everything forward in a desperate attack.  Given the explosive pace of Sadio Mane and the diabolical trickery of Roberto Firmino, it was a serious possibility that Liverpool could grab an equalizer and send the game into extra-time.  With single-digits of minutes left on the clock, Gareth Bale hits a speculative ball at the Liverpool net from 40 yards out.  Does Karius deliberately fluff it into his own net?  Is he unable to focus his eyes?  Either way, the result is made safe and the clock runs out to end the game.
• In the weeks after the game, rather than celebrating and gloating, Madrid begins to disintegrate.  Zinedine Zidane resigns as the team's manager, game-winning-goal-scorer Gareth Bale begins complaining loudly in the press that he does not receive adequate recognition or respect from the team, and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo joins the Portuguese national World Cup squad amidst new speculation that he is looking for an exit.  (See HERE)  Not exactly a happy family proud of a well-earned accomplishment.

In any event, the primary motivation in any conspiracy would be money.  If there is any advancement in this sort of theory, it would be from bookmakers who lost considerable sums on remarkably similar wagers of huge value.

I have started to publish some of my exhaustively lengthy book reviews on GoodReads.  In future, I'll try and balance that sort of work with these sorts of posts.  Until then, good reading and good evening.
Goodnight England and the Colonies,
—mARKUS