Klopp's simple answer to Salah's historic hat-trick after being benched

Jurgen Klopp simply said "Mo is Mo" after Mohamed Salah scored the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history against Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday evening.

The Egypt international came off the bench to score three goals in six minutes and help the Reds recover from a goal down to complete an emphatic 7-1 win. Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino also found the net, with the latter scoring a brace.

Wednesday evening's result means Liverpool need just a point from their final two Champions League group games against Napoli and Ajax to progress. Napoli have already reached the knockout stages after winning all four of their European fixtures so far.

Salah was left out of Klopp's starting XI after a slow start to the season by his high standards. The forward had scored five goals and provided four assists in all competitions heading into the game, with only two of those goals coming in the Premier League.

Klopp brought on Salah in the 68th minute, allowing him to score his record-breaking hat-trick. The previous record holder in the Champions League was Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored three goals in seven minutes for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in December 2011.

"Mo is Mo," Klopp told beIN Sports at full-time. "Quickest hat-trick in Champions League history - that's something special."

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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.

"I really think the first half prepared the second half. When we are on it, we can be a really good football team. We built on the good things from the first half, we kept them moving and obviously they had to change the centre-half.

"The goals we scored were exceptional. it's a night where things worked out for us. It changes the mood definitely, and that's good. We all know who is coming on Sunday. That will be different, but it's better to go in with the feeling from tonight."

Liverpool's next game on Sunday is against Premier League champions Manchester City at Anfield. Virgil van Dijk added: "It's not a bad thing winning 7-1 over here. The outside point of view, we were expected to win but we take it a game at a time.

"We know that we're in a tough period, we take it game by game, that's how we approach tonight and the big one Sunday. They're in fantastic form and it's always difficult for both sides but we'll prepare, recover and be ready for Sunday."

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