Loris Karius was not diagnosed with a concussion until five days after the Champions League final.GETTY IMAGES
Brain injury experts warned football officials to "urgently overhaul" medical protocols after the "alarming" and "extraordinary" chain of events following Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius' Champions League final concussion, according to Jeremy Wilson of the London TELEGRAPH. Charities Headway and The Jeff Astle Foundation, as well as former U.S. int'l Taylor Twellman, whose own career was ended by a head injury, said that the "final decision on whether players stay on the pitch following a suspected concussion should no longer rest with club doctors but an independent medical professional." Headway, Twellman and Dr. Willie Stewart, the neuropathologist who diagnosed CTE in former England striker Jeff Astle, all called for football to "follow rugby union in introducing temporary substitutions to allow players to leave the pitch for in-depth assessments." Headway CEO Peter McCabe questioned the "worrying" circumstances around how Karius completed the Champions League final despite "taking an elbow to the head" and then being diagnosed five days later by doctors in Boston with a concussion. He added, "The best time to diagnose a concussion is when it happens. He should have been assessed on the pitch. If that didn't happen, when he came off" (TELEGRAPH, 6/5).
