Chelsea vs Liverpool: How has Jurgen Klopp fared against Jose Mourinho in their previous encounters?

The former Borussia Dortmund coach has a decent record against 'The Special One'

Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho while managing Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively. (Getty Images)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp comes up against a big managerial name for the first time in the Premier League on Saturday when his side travel to play Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.

The encounter at Stamford Bridge could be the start of a long and healthy competitive rivalry between the pair, who are rated as two of the continent’s most influential coaches.

Both teams are currently out of sorts in the league. The defending champions go into the game off the back of an away loss at the hands of West Ham United last weekend, which was followed by a penalty shoot-out defeat in the Capital One Cup at Stoke City.

Klopp, meanwhile, will be hoping for his first league win in the Liverpool dugout on Saturday lunchtime, after seeing his side draw twice in his opening two fixtures. Southampton’s Sadio Mane equalised late on to deny the new manager his first three points last Sunday.

It is, therefore, a difficult tie to call and some insight may be found by looking into previous meetings between 'The Special One' and the 'The Normal One'.

Jurgen Klopp's record vs Jose Mourinho

Overall, Klopp has quite an impressive record when coming up against Mourinho. In fact, one of the stand-out nights of his managerial career came when his Borussia Dortmund side met the Portuguese coach’s Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals in 2013.

Dortmund were superb as they produced an outstanding display of fast, energetic counter-attacking football and demolished the Spanish giants in a 4-1 first leg win. Robert Lewandowski scored each of the goals but it was the overall team performance that impressed most.

Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville was left purring. The former Manchester United full-back was amazed with what he saw, describing the "energy, intelligence and quality" of Dortmund's play as "stunning". Neville later said that the performance had him wishing that he could see a game between Klopp's side and the treble-winning Manchester United team he played in.

A 2-0 defeat in the second leg, Mourinho’s only victory over Klopp, was not enough to turn the tie around and Dortmund progressed to the final.

Earlier that season, the two clubs had met in the group stage, where Klopp once again came out on top. A 2-1 victory at home was followed up with a 2-2 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu, which gave Dortmund top spot ahead of the team from the Spanish capital. Manchester City, part of the same group that year, came bottom.

Overall: P4 W2 D1 L1