Liverpool take on Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final this Sunday, with Jurgen Klopp seeking a seventh major trophy as a manager.
The Reds go into the final as favourites, despite their injury crisis, with Klopp’s side top of the Premier League table and having beaten Chelsea 4-1 as recently as January.
The final offers Liverpool and Klopp another chance for success before club and manager part ways at the end of the season.
The 56-year-old stunned the footballing world in January as he announced his decision to stand down as Liverpool manager at the end of the campaign, revealing he was ‘running out of energy’ after over eight years in the job.
While the Reds continue to battle on four fronts for an unprecedented quadruple, Klopp’s legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats is assured, whatever happens by the end of May.
The German has won every major honour available to him in his time at Anfield (bar the Europa League) and delivered both European and domestic success, while creating one of the best sides the Premier League has ever seen.
As well as lifting the Premier League title in 2019/20, Klopp has taken the Reds to nine major cup finals since taking over the club in the autumn of 2015, winning five.
It’s a strong, if not perfect, record.
In contrast, prior to his time at Anfield, Klopp had competed in four finals, registering just one win.
In fact, after lifting the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) in his first ever final as manager at Dortmund, Klopp went on a run of six defeats, and even gained something of a reputation as perennial bridesmaid in the cups.
That all changed however with Liverpool’s sixth European Cup, as Klopp’s Reds saw off Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid in 2019.
Following that success, Klopp would go on to win five finals in a row, including a cup double in 2022, before breaking the run with defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Overall, Klopp has a record of six wins in 13 major finals across his career.
2012 DFB-Pokal Dortmund 5-2 Bayern Munich Win
2013 Champions League Dortmund 1-2 Bayern Munich Loss
2014 DFB-Pokal Dortmund 0-2 Bayern Munich Loss
2015 DFB-Pokal Dortmund 1-3 Wolfsburg Loss
2016 League Cup Liverpool 1-1 Man City (1-3 pens) Loss
2016 Europa League Liverpool 1-3 Sevilla Loss
2018 Champions League Liverpool 1-3 Real Madrid Loss
2019 Champions League Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham Win
2019 UEFA Super Cup Liverpool 2-2 Chelsea (5-4 pens) Win
2019 Club World Cup Liverpool 1-0 Flamengo Win
2022 League Cup Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea (11-10 on pens) Win
2022 FA Cup Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea (6-5 on pens) Win
2022 Champions League Liverpool 0-1 Real Madrid Loss
* Does not include the Community Shield or German Super Cup.
With a win on Sunday, Klopp would get an even 50/50 record overall in finals across his career, though he’ll hope to have more chances to up his win rate before he bids Liverpool farewell.
