It’s times like these that social media is a blessing and a curse.

A chance for everyone to have their say on any issue in real time, Twitter is a powerful tool. It can be used to garner opinion or sometimes you get to change the minds of key people who make decisions. Other times, it’s just a chance for people to chat to like-minded others or vent about something that’s on your mind.

The Champions League final at the weekend was always going to be a big night on social media. It always is, but with BT Sport broadcasting the game live on YouTube these days it feels just that bit more digital.

What happens in the game, though, will colour the coverage you get on social.

Take, for example, the official Liverpool Twitter account’s reaction to Gareth Bale’s astonishing overhead kick. There’s simply no way to tweet anything other that a matter of fact update that their opponents on the night had scored. Reacting to the moment, for a Liverpool fan, might well mean bowing down to a moment of brilliance, but more likely the feeling is the despair that only losing the biggest game of your season can bring.

64: Goal for Real Madrid. Bale.

[2-1]#UCLfinal

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 26, 2018

But the real moment of despair for Liverpool came from the other two goals they conceded, and they were haunting for one man in particular.

Upon the final whistle, goalkeeper Loris Karius went over to the fans to ask for forgiveness and absolution for his sins – two huge mistakes in the biggest game of his life. But there was nowhere to hide.

On Twitter, though, that instant reaction of many of his team’s fans showed the good and the bad of the platform.

For every message written in anger – some disgustingly over the top – there were multiple message of support, but it’s hard to get away from the idea that this probably isn’t a good thing. A Champions League final is an emotional time for anyone who’s invested in the outcome. The nervous excitement of Reds fans before kick off gave way to a cloud of anger that the game was lost not necessarily because the other team was much better but through miscellany: those mistakes, deflections, wondergoals and other assorted absurdities that can happen in a football match. Often times there’s no one to blame for these things, but on Saturday night in Kiev, there was one obvious scapegoat.

Haven’t really slept until now… the scenes are still running through my head again and again… I'm infinitely sorry to my teammates, for you fans, and for all the staff. I know that I messed it up with the two mistakes and let you all down… pic.twitter.com/w9GixPiQDC

— Loris Karius (@LorisKarius) May 27, 2018

So of course Karius was going to be the victim of some nasty comments. He would have been the victim of that in the pubs and front rooms where people had congregated to watch the match anyway, even in the days before social media. It must have been one of the worst nights of the German goalkeeper’s life after that game and when he took to Twitter to send out his apologies later in the evening, you wonder what comments he saw in his mentions – if any at all.

For all of the nasty or mocking comments directed at him all over the platform, there were plenty of positive ones. But sport is a ruthless business. If the pitch in Kiev seemed like an unforgiving circle of hell for Karius, the immediacy and volume of the comments on the game’s digital forums make that an even harder place to be sometimes.