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Jurgen Klopp had probably seen it coming.

“That's my life... always until the last matchday!" he declared after Liverpool's 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.

Once again, the Reds have left it to the last day of the league season to secure their top-four berth and Champions League qualification.

Klopp has also faced plenty of testing occasions of crucial final league games throughout his career.

In fact, whatever happens on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine it will match the final-day heartbreak he experienced with his first club Mainz.

Here are the final league games of the season that mattered to Klopp and how they unfolded.

2001-02 – Mainz

Union Berlin 3-1 Mainz

In his first full season as a manager, Klopp came painfully close to achieving the club’s goal of promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time.

Mainz had already had two opportunities to gain the point they required but had lost to Duisburg and SpVgg Greuther Furth despite taking the lead in both games.

But they didn’t fare any better in their final match in Berlin, losing 3-1, which meant Bochum were promoted instead.

No-one would ever accuse Klopp of not caring and he broke down in tears before an interview with the German national broadcaster ZDF TV, according to a biography of the manager by Elmar Neveling.

At the press conference, Klopp said: “I don’t want to dwell on it anymore. We had it in our hands and we failed. Our fans had a dream, and we didn’t make it reality. We’ll have another crack at it.”

He also admitted later on: “I cried in Berlin like never before in my life. But when you get knocked down, you can get up.”

2002-03

Mainz 4-1 Eintracht Braunschweig

Mainz dusted themselves down and faced up to the challenge of reaching the Bundesliga in the following season.

Unfortunately, there were tears for Klopp yet again and for his players.

After the pain of being denied promotion by a point, Mainz had heartbreak at the end of this season because of a single goal.

With Arsenal just a point behind Liverpool and only two goals separating the teams on goal difference, the German will be desperate to avoid a similar scenario on Sunday.

Mainz couldn’t have done much more in putting four goals past Braunschweig but the opposition’s consolation goal and Mainz spurning other chances proved crucial.

At the end of the game, the squad waited on the pitch, arms around each other, to find out what was going on with their promotion rivals Eintracht Frankfurt.

(Image: (Photo by Thomas Langer/Bongarts/Getty Images))

In injury time, Eintracht scored to give themselves a 6-3 win over Reutlingen.

That final goal meant that, despite Mainz and Eintracht both finishing on 62 points, the latter team had a superior goal difference of just one, and went up.

Klopp held it together while he consoled his players, but couldn’t do so in front of his son.

As his biography reveals, at the entrance to the dressing room, his son asked if he had to go to school the next day.

“Then I cried like a baby,” Klopp said.

He surely can’t experience as tight, and crushing, an end to a season again?

2003-04

Mainz 3-0 Eintracht Trier

It was third time lucky as Klopp and his players proved that perseverance pays off.

Once again though, there were nerves and anxious waits to learn the results from other games on the final day before Mainz knew they had achieved their dream.

Unlike this weekend, it was out of Klopp’s hands and he had to rely on other results.

Alemannia Aachen were in the all-important third position in the table with 53 points, two points ahead of Mainz.

Klopp’s team did what they needed to and the crowd jumped for joy on learning that relegation threatened Karlsruher SC had gone one nil up against Alemannia Aachen.

Karlsruher went down to 10 men but their opponents failed to find a way through and Klopp cried tears of happiness instead of despair.

2008-09

Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Borussia Dortmund

A late injury time goal denied Klopp once again this season, his first in charge of Dortmund.

Is this starting to make you nervous?

His team had a rocky patch of games after Germany’s midwinter break, winning just once in seven.

But under his guidance, they won eight of their final 10 matches to bring the team tantalisingly close to qualifying for the Europa League.

On the final day, Hamburg moved past Dortmund into fifth place courtesy of an injury time goal that shouldn’t have stood.

Their final goal, to give them a 3-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt came from an offside position. There was disappointment at Dortmund but hope for the future as Klopp had set in motion the pressing style that would serve the club so well in following seasons.

The team finished sixth, just two points short of European qualification, but compared to their finish of 13th the previous season, it was a considerable improvement.

(Image: INA FASSBENDER/AFP/Getty Images)

Klopp went on to win the title in two successive seasons (2010/11 and 2011/12) without the need for final day nerves, wrapping them up with games to spare.

Similarly, when Bayern Munich won their titles in 2012/13 and 2013/14, they set records for how early they clinched it so there were no last-minute challenges from their closest rival Dortmund.

Dortmund also comfortably qualified for the Champions League in both these seasons.

But in Klopp’s final season at the Westfalenstadion, his fortunes went to the wire once more.

2014-15

Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Werder Bremen

This game had added significance as it was Klopp’s last ever league match at Dortmund, where he was adored.

A disastrous start to the season meant Dortmund were bottom of the table after three different rounds of matches.

But an improved second half of the season meant they climbed up the league, and Klopp was able to bow out at their home ground by securing European qualification.

They only needed a point against Werder Bremen to get into the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

First half goals from Shinji Kagawa, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan provided a great deal of assurance though and Augsburg’s 3-1 win at Borussia Monchengladbach meant Dortmund finished seventh.

Klopp has plenty of experience to call on this weekend then and will know how to motivate his players without making them too nervous.

He will only hope that they don’t put him through the wringer in the same way as some of his previous players.

2016-17

Liverpool 3-0 Middlesbrough

(Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Twelve months ago, Liverpool had fought themselves into a position where victory against the already-relegated Middlesbrough would secure Champions League qualification.

Straightforward? Not quite.

A nervy first half saw Dejan Lovren survive a penalty appeal before Gini Wijnaldum struck the opener in injury time just before the break.

Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana then netted shortly after the interval and the job was done.

Liverpool and Klopp could do with a bit more of that against Brighton this weekend.