Jurgen Klopp hailed “special” Mohamed Salah after another astonishing record – and believes it can spark the Liverpool forward’s season.
Salah came off the bench to score the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history as the Reds romped to an historic 7-1 triumph at Rangers on Wednesday evening.
The Egyptian netted his treble inside six minutes and 12 seconds, beating the previous quickest held by Bafetimbi Gomis of eight minutes when playing for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.
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And with 38 goals in the Champions League proper, Salah has scored the most times in the competition for a single English club.
The forward has experienced an underwhelming season by his standards, illustrated by his substitution in last weekend’s 3-2 Premier League defeat at Arsenal.
And when asked what the hat-trick could do for Salah, Klopp said: “Everything. You could see the reaction.
“I couldn’t see Mo celebrating because he was always running in the corner but you could see with Darwin (Nunez) 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 exceptional, absolutely exceptional. Obviously it was a different position for him tonight, coming on. I hope for him everything works for him from now on, like I hope it does for us!”
With Napoli beating Ajax 4-2 earlier in the day in Group A's other match, Liverpool know a point in a fortnight in Amsterdam would be sufficient to qualify for the knockout stages.
Despite falling behind to Scott Arfield’s opener, Liverpool hit back with Roberto Firmino scoring twice, Darwin Nunez netting and Harvey Elliott also on target as the Reds matched the heaviest-ever defeat in Rangers’ history.
And Klopp added of Salah’s goals: “Special. Very important, the whole thing, how the boys adapted to the positions, to the line-up, the reaction of the boys on the pitch.
“I thought everyone who started tonight played really well. I can’t think of one player who didn’t have a good game. The two kids right and left wing were really good, Fabio (Carvalho) and Harvey, and when you can change like you did tonight, then things like this can happen.
“It is a freak result, we all know that and we don’t make more of it than we should but obviously it’s the best we could have asked for. Really pleased.”
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