Former Liverpool flop Loris Karius has welcomed his second child with his TV presenter wife Diletta Leotta.
Just days after celebrating promotion to Germany’s top flight with Schalke, Karius, 32, and Leotta, 34, welcomed son Leonardo in a heartwarming Instagram post on Saturday.
Leotta, who presents Italian football on DAZN, shared a photo of herself with Karius, Leonardo and their two-year-old daughter Aria from her hospital bed.
It caps off a wonderful few weeks for Karius, who is remembered by English football fans for his nightmare showing in Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid eight years ago, in which two costly errors from the goalkeeper gifted the Spaniards the trophy in a 3-1 defeat.
The German never played for Liverpool again after that fateful night in Kyiv and was released by the Anfield club in 2022.
Loris Karius and his wife Diletta Leotta have welcomed their second child
Their new addition comes just days after Karius helped Schalke win the second division title in Germany
But now, back in Germany with Schalke, Karius has played a crucial role in sending his side back to the Bundesliga after a three-year exile.
Leotta was unable to celebrate Karius’s triumph on the pitch as she was heavily pregnant with Leonardo, but she lauded her husband’s resilience in a gushing Instagram post.
She posted: ‘This sport can be tough, sometimes ruthless. [It] exposes you, tests you, makes you fall in front of everyone.
‘But if you find the strength to stay, to believe again, sooner or later it brings you back exactly where you deserve to be.
‘I have seen that strength up close. In the silences, in the difficult moments, on the days when it would have been easier to give up.
‘And today it’s not just a victory. It’s a revival. It’s love for what you do. That’s courage. Proud of you.’
Karius and Leotta met in 2022 during a chance encounter while attending Paris Fashion Week, when the goalkeeper visited a restaurant while Leotta was enjoying a meal with her girlfriends.
She told Bild: ‘Loris comes in and I said, ‘Girls, the man of my life has come in.’
‘That was absolutely amazing.’
