Liverpool will go into Sunday’s crunch match with Manchester City full of confidence after thrashing Rangers in the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp’s side went behind to Scott Arfield’s neat finish at Ibrox but responded in emphatic fashion as Roberto Firmino, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott all got on the scoresheet alongside hat-trick hero Mohamed Salah in a 7-1 drubbing.
The Egyptian actually started the night on the bench in Glasgow, but that didn’t stop him from stealing the headlines. Group A has now taken shape, with Liverpool secure in second behind runaway leaders Napoli, who beat Ajax 4-2 to maintain their perfect record.
Attention will now turn to Man City’s visit to Anfield on Sunday in the Premier League. In the meantime, here are Mirror Football’s latest Liverpool headlines.
Record-breaking Salah
Where else to start but with Salah? The night started with question marks over his form, following a meek display against Arsenal, but ended with a record for the Champions League’s fastest ever hat-trick.
Salah took just six minutes and 12 seconds to net three times in the second half to completely change the complexion of the night. Prior to his effort the record belonged to Bafétimbi Gomis, who scored three in eight minutes for Lyon as they beat Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.
Diogo Jota played his part in Salah’s feat too by assisting all three of his goals. That has not happened in the competition since Franck Ribery laid on assists for Mario Gomez to score three for Bayern Munich against Basel in March 2012.
Klopp’s simple response
Klopp began the night by fielding questions about why he had decided to bench Salah. He ended it by waxing lyrical about his star forward. "Mo is Mo," he told beIN Sports. "Quickest hat-trick in Champions League history – that's something special."
Speaking to BT Sport, Klopp went on to say: "We had a really positive half-time talk. We wanted more in the second half. Clearly, it worked out.
"Special, particularly Mo. Very important how we adapted to the positions, to the line-up. Everyone who started tonight played really well - Fabio [Carvalho] and Harvey [Elliott], really good. It's the best we could have asked for. I'm really pleased.”
Read Klopp’s full quotes here.
New Henderson footage
Away from the pitch last night, the fallout from Jordan Henderson’s clash with Gabriel continued.
The pair had become involved in a furious row towards the end of the Gunners' 3-2 victory on the weekend – an argument which has since led to an FA investigation to ascertain what happened. Lip readers could be even used by the authorities.
New footage could shed some light on the mood in the two camps following the final whistle. It seems things had calmed down by the time the players reached the tunnel – and that is backed up by fresh video from the game.
In it Henderson can be seen high-fiving his England colleague Aaron Ramsdale, while Gabriel hugs fellow centre-back Virgil van Dijk. Henderson and Gabriel shake hands briefly before Firmino is encouraged to mediate with his compatriot.
