Mohamed Salah made UEFA Champions League history with a hat-trick in record time in Liverpool FC’s 7-1 defeat of Glasgow Rangers. He scored his three goals within six minutes and 12 seconds.
Salah was left out of the starting line-up, but was later sent on as a substitute by Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp in the 67th minute of the group stage game.
Before Salah’s three goals there were two from his Brazilian teammate, forward Roberto Firmino, who told UEFA that he saw Salah’s trio of goals coming.
“Amazing,” Firmino said. “When he scored the first goal, I told Darwin on the bench ‘he will score a hat-trick, 100 percent’. I could feel it on the bench, and that’s exactly what he did, and I’m so happy for him.”
Jürgen Klopp also praised Salah’s remarkable victory, saying: “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.”
Liverpool’s spectacular performance against Rangers puts them in second place within their group, after Napoli, who have so far gone undefeated in the tournament. Two final group stage games against Ajax Amsterdam and Napoli will determine whether Liverpool gets a spot in the knockout stage.
Fans are hoping that this record hat-trick is a sign that Salah, who has been facing somewhat of a dry spell in his goal scoring this season — with two goals in the English Premier League and five in Champions League — is back on form, especially with the club’s imminent clash against the formidable Manchester City on Sunday, 16 October.
Salah is no stranger to comebacks or records. In this case, the previous record holder for the fastest hat-trick was Bafetimbi Gomis for Lyon, who struck three times in seven minutes to win over Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.
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