Liverpool manager Klopp's rise to the top

Jürgen Klopp's return to football has been keenly anticipated ever since he left Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season – his profile is unlikely to diminish now he has been confirmed as Liverpool manager.

Klopp takes over at a club frustated by a 25-season spell without a league title. In that time their record of 18 English championships has been eclipsed by Manchester United. Klopp inherits a team tenth in the Premier League and without a win in their first two UEFA Europa League Group B fixtures.

But then Klopp has been here before. He arrived in Dortmund in the summer of 2008 following a seven-year spell at FSV Mainz, where he had spent his entire playing career but quit as coach after failing to win promotion back to the top division. BVB had come 13th the previous campaign and only a run to the German Cup final had ended their four-year absence from Europe, a long way from the 2001/02 season when they topped the Bundesliga and reached the UEFA Cup final.

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Indeed, it seemed improbable that Dortmund could dream of winning the UEFA Champions League as they had 11 years earlier. But under Klopp, Dortmund put faith in emerging talents like Mario Götze and Mats Hummels and did great work in the transfer market, the likes of Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski exemplifying a knack for spotting diamonds in the rough.

Klopp's Dortmund were immensely energetic, pressing relentlessly and breaking at – a style which perhaps reached its peak in the 2012 German Cup final when Dortmund overwhelmed Bayern München 5-2 in Berlin. "Klopp was my best transfer as general manager," his Dortmund boss Michael Zorc once said.

After two top-six finishes, Dortmund won the Bundesliga in 2010/11 and the following campaign completed the double. Klopp said: "What is happening here is just crazy. If there was ever a side that deserved to be champions, then that's us. We have not lost for 26 games in a row – that's insane."

The only area where Klopp had not succeeded was in Europe, but that was put right in some style in 2012/13. They topped Real Madrid, Ajax and Manchester City in their group, then saw off Shakhtar Donetsk and, with a sensational late comeback, Málaga to make the semis.

There Madrid lay in wait but a brilliant 4-1 home victory ensured Dortmund could even afford a 2-0 loss in Spain. Only a last-minute Arjen Robben clincher for Bayern in the Wembley final halted Dortmund's run, but Klopp was now already in Europe's top tier of coaches.

Explaining his success to UEFA.com in September 2013, Klopp mused: "First of all, my colleagues and I are no magicians. We cannot make good players out of bad players. Or very good or excellent. We can't do that. The first point is to get the right players, try to recognise the potential, try to develop it and turn it into skills with the help of everyone involved. That's the most important thing. That's how you can find success somehow.

"Generally I think we can make a team better with the way we work, with the way we train ... but they have to be good already, that's one condition! And then a playing philosophy that reflects your mentality, that reflects the club, that gives a direction to follow. That means taking the passion to its limits. Borussia Dortmund don't just play for a result, Borussia Dortmund means an experience."

Liverpool are hoping that will take them back to the top.