Aside from the current title challenge Liverpool currently find themselves in, our early exit from both the FA Cup and the League Cup means we only have the Champions League trophy left to compete for alongside the league and the gaffer seems keen to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves. Whilst it will be advantageous to have Klopp at the helm against his former rivals, the German hardly has the best record against them, and we’ll be desperately hoping that he can put his poor form against Bayern to bed. Klopp has come up against the Bavarian side a total of 29 times as a manager and although it took him 12 attempts to get his first win, his record did improve with him winning 7 out of the following 17 times they faced each other. It’s worth noting that all 8 of Klopp’s wins against Bayern came whilst he was the manager of Borussia Dortmund, having failed to beat them even once during his time at Mainz. There is nothing wrong at all with his poor record against them whilst he was at Mainz as he was working with a very average side that had very little money for new additions, and it’s encouraging to see that he has held his own on numerous occasions since leaving the small Rhineland side. 
Klopp’s record against Bayern when it really matters isn’t that great to be honest, the Champions League final sticks out, but since then Klopp has built himself a stronger side and that has coincided with Bayern’s domestic dominance somewhat crumbling. Klopp’s current side look so dangerous on their day and through our form has dwindled slightly in recent weeks, we have looked dangerous and we seem to relish these kinds of fixtures. Klopp’s victories against the Bavarians include the 2012 DFB Pokal final when his side won 5-2, and the two consecutive Super Cups he won in 2013 and 2014. That being said, Klopp’s biggest victories against Bayern arguably come in the form of the two Bundesliga titles that he snatched from them in the 10/11 and 11/12 seasons. This purple patch saw his Borussia Dortmund side absolutely dominate the Bundesliga and this saw the German record five wins in a row during that period, a hugely impressive feat when you consider how good that Bayern Munich side was and the superstars they had at their disposal. 
The one thing that we can be fairly certain of is that this tie will be entertaining, with only 5 of Klopp’s 29 outings against the Bavarians ending in a stalemate. I’m sure that this game won’t be as easy as the last time we faced off against Bayern, the 3-0 win in the 2017 Audi Cup, and we should expect a much tougher challenge. Bayern have a full-strength side at their disposal too, with only Tolisso, Sanches, and Robben expected to miss the first leg through injury. This is a stark contrast to Liverpool’s currently limited side with Chamberlain, Gomez, and Lovren injured, Van Dijk suspended, and Henderson and Trent are only just returning from their respective injuries. Raphael Honigstein, esteemed Bundesliga expert, said on The Transfer Window podcast that: “I think with Dortmund it was always case of upsetting the odds, being the underdog, and the empire was always going to strike back. With Liverpool they are also the underdogs, but the distance and the ability to make up that gap seems to be much more sustained in my view.” This reiterates the view that while Liverpool will go into the fixture as the underdog, Klopp is more than capable of delivering an upset and not simply rolling over. Klopp will go into the game knowing that whilst the odds are stacked against him, especially given our current selection crisis, he has players at his disposal that can cause problems for any team in Europe and Bayern would be foolish to forget that. Article by James McHale @jamesmchale260716+ PODCASTS P/MONTH
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