UCL: Salah nets hat-trick to help Liverpool progress into last 16

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Mohamed Salah scored the quickest hat-trick in Champions League history as Liverpool thumped Rangers 7-1 to put one foot in the last 16.

It started badly for Jurgen Klopp’s side at Ibrox when Scott Arfield scored his first Champions League goal with a crisp finish past Alisson from outside the penalty area.

Liverpool pulled level soon after, though, when Firmino headed home a corner from close range, before the Brazilian and Darwin Nunez put the Reds 3-1 up.

That set the stage for Salah to come off the substitutes’ bench and complete a hat-trick in just six minutes and 12 seconds to leave Liverpool, who added a seventh late on through Harvey Elliott, needing just a point from their final two games against Ajax and Napoli to progress to the knockout stages.

Rangers were rewarded for a fine start when Arfield ran onto Ryan Jack’s pass and fired a low strike into Alisson’s bottom-right corner from 20 yards.

Liverpool pulled level with their first attempt on target just seven minutes later, though, as Firmino glanced Kostas Tsimikas’ corner home from inside the six-yard box.

The Reds were much brighter after the break and moved ahead in the 55th minute when Firmino met Joe Gomez’s sumptuous cross with a low finish that went through Allan McGregor’s legs.

Firmino turned provider for the visitors’ third after 66 minutes, flicking into the path of Nunez, who curled around McGregor from 18 yards for his first Champions League goal in Liverpool colours.

Salah then grabbed his first with a finish from a tight angle in the 75th minute, before clipping past an exposed McGregor five minutes later.

He then etched his name into the record books with a wonderful third moments later, while Elliott put the visitors into seventh heaven three minutes from full-time.