"I am full of respect for his work. I think if you are not a journalist or a referee he is a nice guy. I am not one of these so we have a good talk."

There is clearly no bad blood between Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp, judging from the new Liverpool manager's comments today.

And to be honest, it's hard to imagine even Chelsea's boss falling out with the character we can gauge from Klopp's cheerful exterior.

That being said, both managers and have good reason to beat each other beyond the basic requirement of three points this Saturday.

Klopp will hope to follow a first Liverpool win in the Capital One Cup with a first Premier League victory, while if reports are believed, Mourinho cannot afford another setback at Stamford Bridge.

The two managers have only faced off four times before - all in the Champions League and when both were managing Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

Klopp holds the edge results-wise.

It was the European campaign in which Dortmund caught the imagination of viewers across the continent as they reached the 2012-13 Champions League final, while Real and Mourinho were in their turbulent third and final season together.

They had been placed in a tough pool in the group stage, against Mourinho's Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, yet topped that group without suffering a single defeat.

Robert Lewandowski scored the opener (AP Photo / Martin Meissner)

Match 1

Real and Dortmund did not meet until the third matchday of that group, with both sides having picked up six and four points respectively from their opening two games.

But when they met on October 24th 2012 at Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, it was Klopp's team that prevailed by a 2-1 scoreline with a Cristiano Ronaldo goal sandwiched in between finishes from Robert Lewandowski (Real would feel his wrath at a much later date) and left-back Marcel Schmelzer.

Both sides were of the counter-attacking variety in that era but in different ways, with heavy pressing the Klopp signature and the pace on the transition of Ronaldo and co evident in the other camp.

But in terms of possession, Dortmund ceded 56 per cent of it to Real which suited Klopp down to the ground, but still managed to have more attempted shots and far more shots on target than their opponents - statistics which showed how well in tune Dortmund's players were with Klopp's philosophy at the time.

Match 2

As with all Champions League campaigns, the third match-day fixtures are reversed for a match-day four and Dortmund were very unlucky to come away from the Santiago Bernabeu with a 2-2 draw, having led 2-1 from the moment Alvaro Arbeloa scored an own goal. Mesut Ozil notched the late equaliser for the La Liga side.

Xabi Alonso surrounded by Dortmund players (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Possession was even more starkly in Real Madrid's favour (60 per cent) and in an individual sense, the fact that the player with the highest Dortmud pass completion rate was right-back Lukasz  Piszczek who only finished the 90 minutes with a rate of 73 per cent tells you a lot about the importance Klopp placed on retention of the ball.

Match 3

By the time both sides were reacquainted it was semi-final time with Dortmund having negotiated their way past Shakhtar Donetsk and, extremely dramatically, Malaga in the quarter-final.

Real on the other hand had defeated Manchester United (the second leg being Alex Ferguson's final European game) and then Galatasaray. 

Looking  back at the preview to the semi-final fixture that I wrote at the time, I mentioned the name Lewandowski once, describing him as "prolific".

I just did not expect him to be so utterly prolific in the space of 90 minutes as he battered Real with four goals on his own (there was a fall off the couch in shock as one of those goals went in) to take a 4-1 first leg lead to the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of the return.

Again Real Madrid dominated possession, yet had fewer shots, were dispossessed of the ball more and won fewer tackles. 

Match 4

With a three goal cushion and the complication of having conceded an away goal, the second leg in Spain was tricky for Dortmund and they almost blew it as a desperate Real recorded a 2-0 win, which ultimately proved to be a goal shy of what Mourinho's side needed.

That being said, it was the only time Mourinho has tasted victory against Klopp in four attempts and one he will try to put right this Saturday.