Jurgen Klopp says Jose Mourinho can be a 'nice guy'

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says Jose Mourinho can be a "nice guy", so long as you are not a referee or journalist.

The pair will meet on Saturday as Klopp seeks a first Premier League win.

Chelsea boss Mourinho has been charged twice this season for criticising referees and misconduct but Klopp says the Portuguese's public persona is not a true representation of him.

"I am full of respect for his work. I think if you are not a journalist or a referee he is a nice guy," Klopp said.

"I am not one of these so we have a good talk."

Klopp, 48, forged a bond with Mourinho, 52, when the pair met four times in the 2012-13 Champions League while in charge of Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

Dortmund beat and drew with Real in the group stages, before knocking out the Spanish giants in the semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate win.

"When I was in Germany, sometimes we exchanged short messages," Klopp added.

"I like to meet people and he is a nice guy and he was really full of respect during the game.

"He is emotional, I am emotional but we are full of enough respect after the whistle that normal life starts again and you can talk normally about things that happen and that is what we did. Everything is OK with us, no problem."

The Chelsea manager said on Friday that he had a "good relationship" with the German.

"Liverpool are a good team. They had a very good manager. Now they have a very good new manager," he said of Klopp, who replaced Brendan Rodgers earlier in October.

"Jurgen is not a close friend because football doesn't normally allow that. But I like him a lot and we have a good relationship. As a manager, his work speaks. I consider him one of the top managers in Europe."

Mourinho has had a tough start to his team's title defence, winning only three of 10 Premier League games this season.

The Chelsea manager, who is already appealing against a £50,000 fine and a suspended one-match stadium ban for suggesting officials were "afraid" to award his side decisions following the October 3 defeat by Southampton, was this week charged with misconduct after being sent off at West Ham last weekend.