Chelsea v Liverpool: A tale of two coaches

“Now, people say results are the most important thing. It’s a contradiction,” added the testy tactician.

Though Mourinho did defend his team, telling press: “What the players did tonight is face the people that write and say, ‘you are stupid’. You think the players did not give everything to win the game? That is really sad.”

Can the ‘Special One’ put Klopp and Liverpool curses to bed?

Liverpool have long been a banana skin for both Chelsea and Mourinho, with the Blues drawing four of their last eight battles against the Reds, and before that coming unstuck in several cup clashes. Notably successive Champions League exits occurred during Mourinho’s first Stamford Bridge stint, which arguably helped end his first tenure, and now the Anfield outfit could have a hand in another dugout demise.

The ‘Special One’ has similarly suffered against coaching peer Klopp, who he faced competitively four times with Real Madrid in 2012/13.

Mourinho easily came off worse, as Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund lost just once against the Spanish giants, crucially contributing to the Portuguese’s Bernabeu exit as they knocked Los Blancos out the Champions League last four.

Klopp keen to justify coaching change

A maiden Premier League victory against champions Chelsea is fantastically priced at 3/1 to occur, and knocking Mourinho off his perch would be some statement of intent.

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Further articles can be found on Jurgen Klopp in our archive