Jürgen Klopp hails ‘special’ Salah and says rout of Rangers ‘changes the mood’

Jürgen Klopp salutes the away supporters after Liverpool put seven past Rangers at Ibrox. Photograph: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images

Jürgen Klopp savoured what he suggested was a comprehensive mood changer at Liverpool – the “freak” 7-1 destruction of Rangers which has all but ensured the club’s qualification to the Champions League knockout rounds – as he saluted the hat-trick hero Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool’s first away win of a difficult season has given them a boost before the Premier League visit of Manchester City to Anfield on Sunday. Roberto Firmino scored two and then set up the third for Darwin Núñez before Salah, on as a substitute, struck a six-minute hat‑trick – the fastest in Champions League history. Harvey Elliott added the seventh.

“It changes the mood, definitely,” Klopp said. “It is completely different. We usually drink a beer after away games, but it is that long [since we won away] that I will probably be drunk after one.

“We all know who we are welcoming on Sunday and this will be a different game. But it’s better to go into the game feeling like we do tonight.

The Rangers defence reacts after Darwin Núñez gets on the scoresheet. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images

“Mo Salah? Special. Very important, the whole thing was. I can’t think of one player who didn’t have a good game. It is a freak result and we don’t make more of it than we should but it’s the best we could have asked for. I couldn’t see Mo celebrating because he was always running in the corner but you could see with Darwin that it meant the world to him. The relief is big.

“All the effort is paying off. We all know when it is running for Mo he is absolutely exceptional. I hope for him everything works for him from now on, like I hope it does for us.”

Klopp said the result was a boost for his team heading in the match against City on Sunday. “I am always ready for a change in the right direction but we will see,” the manager said. “The best football team in the world right now is coming to Anfield on Sunday. It’s not that we come with a big mouth and say: ‘We are waiting.’ This was for different reasons incredibly important for us.

“We had a really positive half-time talk. We showed the boys which spaces we could play in. In the end we needed to get clearer in the final third, which obviously worked out.”