Jurgen Klopp has never beaten Real Madrid while in charge of Liverpool

Although O Jurgen Klopp was the man who led Dortmund to a 4-1 triumph over Real Madrid in 2013 for the semi-finals of the Champions League, as Liverpool manager he has never beaten the ‘queen’ who will find himself opposite him tonight in yet another clash, this once for the “16”.

It was April 24, 2013 when, with four goals from Robert Lewandowski, Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund had prevailed with an emphatic 4-1 win over Real Madrid, laying the foundation for qualifying for the Champions League final. With the German coach on the bench, Borussia had beaten Cristiano Ronaldo’s side 2-0 for the quarter-finals of the top club competition, with the Germans ultimately missing out thanks to a 3-0 first-leg win.

A lot has changed since then. In 2015, Jurgen Klopp moved to Liverpool and managed to lift it up again by winning the Premier League and the Champions League, but he never managed to beat his tonight’s opponent whenever it came his way. More specifically, since the day the German coach took over the bench of Liverpool Metra three defeats and one draw in the Champions League having scored just two goals.

A more recent example is the final that passed us by. Liverpool wanted revenge for the 2018 final, but this did not happen as Vinicius’ goal in the 59th minute saw Real win the 14th trophy in its history in the institution.

The two teams also met in the 2017-2018 season for the quarter-finals of the competition. There in the first match in Spain, Zidane’s team laid the foundations for qualification with an emphatic 3-1. Two goals again from Vinicius and one from Asensio, with Salah in the 51st minute giving the English team little hope of qualifying. The second leg ended in a goalless draw, with the Madrid side punching their ticket to the semi-finals.

This brings us to the historic final of 2018. With Liverpool having an excellent season many would have expected that a return to Champions League glory was close at hand. However, many will remember this matchup for Karius’ two epic blunders. After a mistake of his own, Benzema opened the scoring, with Mane equalizing four minutes later. But another blunder by Karius and two goals by Gareth Bale gave Real the trophy 3-1.

But Liverpool’s mischief is not entirely due to Klopp. Not even in the previous two games between them in the 2014-2015 season did Liverpool find victory with Rodgers on the bench. We should look back to 2009 when, with two wins, the English team qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In fact, in the return match, Liverpool prevailed 4-0 with Steven Gerrard scoring two goals.

It remains to be seen if tonight at “Anfield” Real’s streak will come to an end or if Ancelotti’s team will have another surprise in store for the German technician.

Edited by: Vassilis Macheiras