Mohamed Salah (second right) scored the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Champions League against Rangers Glasgow (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp said the mood around Liverpool improved after Mohamed Salah came off the bench to score the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history in a 7-1 win at Ibrox on Wednesday. The Reds had won just four of their first 11 games of the season and fell back for the eighth time this season when Scott Arfield pushed the Glasgow giants to the top early on. But Rangers are learning after returning to the Champions League for the first time in 12 years as they collapsed to a record European second-half defeat. The Glasgow giants remained without a point and conceded 16 goals in four matches. “The first half and the last half hours were day and night,” Van Bronckhorst said. “I can’t explain it. “The performance was not the way we want to represent this club.” The first-half double Roberto Firmino turned the game around before the Brazilian beat Darwin Nunez to break the match. Klopp left Salah, Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota on the bench with one eye in Sunday’s game against Manchester City in the Premier League. But they were brought in in the last quarter and Salah did not miss the opportunity to take advantage of Rangers’ beleaguered defense. Humiliation: Rangers crushed 7-1 at home to Liverpool The Egyptian hat-trick reached in just six minutes 12 seconds to break the previous record set by Bafetimbi Gomez in Lyon’s 7-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb in 2011. “It definitely changes the mood, and that’s okay,” Klopp said. “We all know who’s coming on Sunday. It’s going to be different, but it better aligns with how we feel tonight. “When we play at our potential we are a good football team. That is what we showed tonight.” Harvey Elliott wrapped up the scoring on a quiet night for a Rangers team that had reached the Europa League final just months ago. A draw in Amsterdam will be enough for Liverpool to reach the last 16 when they face Ajax in two weeks. But Napoli stayed ahead in Group A after beating Ajax 4-2 to secure their place in the playoffs. – Familiar slow start – Klopp’s selection was partly a reaction to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and Luis Diaz losing to injury in a 3-2 loss to Arsenal on Sunday, leaving the Reds already 14 points behind the Premier League leaders. The visitors are accustomed to a slow start this season and felt cold again when Arfield’s path was not traced from midfield and the former Canada international produced a fine finish to seal the bottom corner. Fortunately for last season’s Champions League final, Rangers’ defensive weaknesses were revealed to equalize in 24 minutes. Not the first time this season, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were guilty of a gentle defense from a stationary group as Firmino was tasked with the simple task of nodding Costas Tsimekas’ corner. Liverpool pressed the gears after the break with Firmino again and it did no harm to his case to be awarded a contract after the end of this season. Firmino scored his eighth goal of the season from a low cross from Joe Gomez and then sent Nunez to give the Uruguayan another much-needed goal for his fragile confidence by turning into the far corner against Alan McGregor. The 40-year-old Rangers goalkeeper put on a heroic performance to keep the score low as Liverpool won their first meeting 2-0 at Anfield last week. But Omar McGregor appeared when Salah came off the bench to end his goal drought from open play in style. Salah hit the ball from a tight angle before hitting McGregor in his close position and then completed a hat-trick with a great finishing touch with his left foot. The pain was not over for Rangers as Elliott swept the net after McGregor blocked Jota and the VAR review overturned the assistant referee’s initial decision to disallow the goal for offside.
