“FOOTBALL is a game of mistakes; whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.”

This is a famous quote by the legendary Johan Cruyff. As it turned out, Real Madrid did indeed make fewer mistakes than Liverpool on Saturday night to lift their third straight Champions League trophy.

Gareth Bale scored arguably the finest goal ever seen in a European final to usurp his very own gaffer, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane’s fabulous volley at Hampden Park back in 2002.

Read more: Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay rules out switch to England by pledging his future to Scotland​

It was a goal fit to win a game of such magnitude but unfortunately, the match will also be remembered forever and a day by the two howlers by Loris Karius. The Liverpool keeper’s mistakes gifted Madrid a couple of their goals and probably the trophy on the night.

Madrid’s first goal came about from a lack of concentration from Liverpool. It was an aberration from the Liverpool goalkeeper, to be honest.

It was a similar theme with Madrid’s third goal - one that gave the Spaniards some breathing space - and clinched the trophy. 99 times out of 100, Karius would catch that ball without any issue.

These were two huge mistakes which cost Liverpool dearly on the biggest of stages and I must admit, despite not being a fan of goalies in general, I really felt for him on that pitch at the end in floods of tears.

There really is no hiding place for goalkeepers as when they make a mistake it usually results in losing a goal. No matter what Karius goes on to achieve in his career, and to be honest it probably won’t be at Liverpool, he will always be remembered for his errors in the final.

Much like Ray Clemence who played over 1000 league games and won countless caps and trophies, he will forever be associated by getting “megged” by Kenny Dalgleish in 1976 at Hampden. Even outfield players are not immune to being tagged by a particular game.

Read more: Erik Sviatchenko takes his leave of Celtic but the club will always be a part of him

When I say the name Gordon Smith, the phrase that most likely comes into your head is: “Smith must score””, referring to his ghastly miss for Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup Final.

It will take immense mental strength for Karius to come back from such high profile errors but fans need to bear in mind that people make mistakes and no one goes out to play poorly.

Some of the abuse on social media from so-called Liverpool fans though has been, frankly, shameful. Some will never forgive those mistakes so it makes sense for Karius to leave Liverpool and rebuild his career and confidence elsewhere.

I remember, back in 2007, when I was at Dunfermline, we played away to Inverness Caley Thistle on the penultimate game of the season in a crunch relegation match.

We had to win to have a shot at maintaining our Premiership status and all was going to plan into the last 10 minutes as we held a 1-0 lead. Then disaster struck for our goalkeeper, Dorus De Vries, as he inexplicably let a trundling 30 yard free kick go through his legs and in for the equaliser. It was a goal that effectively relegated us and Dorus was in floods of tears after the game in the dressing room.

Read more: Andy Watson: Steven Gerrard isn’t a magician, he will need time to turn Rangers around​

It was horrible, and in that situation, there is nothing you can say or do to make that individual feel any better as they know their error cost the team. You just try to console them as much as you can. But team is the key word and you win and lose as a team.

Strikers will miss sitters - I certainly missed my fair share to cost my team games and points - yet the same kind of vitriol and anger is never aimed at outfield players as has been directed at Karius. That’s why it was disappointing that the first players up to console him at full time were Madrid players. I thought that was pretty poor to be honest, but emotions were understandably running high.

They say you need to have short-term memory loss when it comes to being a goalkeeper; a strong mentality to bounce back. Loris Karius will need to all of this and more. But he also needs an arm around him from his club and the Liverpool supporters. The mental torture he will currently be going through will be immense. He will be in a dark place. It will never be forgotten unfortunately.

But let’s hope he is forgiven.