Why 'confident' Loris won't be resting on his laurels
Loris Karius' growing confidence won't detract from the Liverpool goalkeeper's determination to continually improve.
The German recorded a fifth clean sheet in his last seven matches as the Reds played out a 0-0 stalemate with FC Porto on Tuesday night to safely progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Having produced important and timely saves in the preceding victories over West Ham United and Newcastle United, it was an uneventful evening for Karius against the Portuguese visitors.
Liverpool’s recent run of form has been mirrored by the No.1’s own – and he wants the current situation to be a springboard for further development.
“Of course I’m confident. We’re playing well and getting good results, so there’s no reason not to be confident,” the stopper told Liverpoolfc.com.
“But you can’t rest on that, you have to show it week in, week out. I want to develop more, get better every week and have good games for the club. Hopefully it’s only the beginning.”
Jürgen Klopp made three changes in his defence against Porto, with Joe Gomez, Alberto Moreno and Joel Matip coming into the starting XI.
But the quality at the manager’s disposal meant there was little threat to Karius claiming a 10th shutout on his 19th appearance of the season.
“The boys are doing well. It doesn’t matter who comes in, they do the job,” he said.
“It was an aim for us, to build on the recent form of not conceding many goals and having a lot of clean sheets. That’s always a good thing for me and for the whole team.
“90 per cent of the time, if we keep a clean sheet we win the game – because we score up front – but it’s a good thing.”
Watch: LFC 0-0 Porto - highlights
Liverpool will discover their opponents in the Champions League last eight next Friday.
But with the Reds unbeaten in the competition proper and the highest scorers with 28 goals, they await the draw with anticipation not trepidation.
Karius added: “I don’t think anyone would be happy to come here. We know that.
“But it doesn’t really matter who the next team is; if you want to win this competition you have to come up against them eventually. We’ll take it as it comes. But I don’t think anyone wants us.”