Mohamed Salah made history with his six-minute hat-trick on Wednesday, with Jurgen Klopp hailing his No. 11 after Liverpool beat Rangers 7-1.
Salah came off the bench to score three times in six minutes and 12 seconds, with this the Champions League‘s fastest-ever hat-trick.
Breaking a record held by Bafetimbi Gomis, the Egyptian secured yet another accolade as Liverpool consigned Rangers to their biggest-ever competitive defeat in the process.
With Man City to come on Sunday, after a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal the weekend previous, Klopp will be hoping for more from Salah after his historic treble.
Speaking to reporters after the game, the manager described him as “special,” before adding: “It’s typical Mo, eh?”
“We all know, when it’s running for Mo he’s exceptional, absolutely exceptional,” Klopp continued.
“Obviously [he was in a] different position tonight, coming on. It was just good.
“I hope for him that everything works well from now on like I hope for us. But we have to work on it. That’s what we’ll do.”
Salah has not been scoring freely so far this season, with many of the impression that he is being marginalised by a wider role, but his three goals on Wednesday came as a central striker.
Klopp was pleased with how he “interpreted the position,” and, having stuck with his new 4-4-2 despite injury to Luis Diaz, explained the importance of this win in adapting to the system.
“[It was] very important, the whole thing, how the boys adapted to it, to the positions, to the lineup, the reaction of the boys on the pitch,” he said.
“I thought everybody who started tonight played really well. I can’t think of one player who didn’t have a good game.
“The two kids, right and left wing, really good, Fabio and Harvey.
“Then when you can change like we changed tonight, if you can do it and the boys come on and are ready to contribute, things like this can happen.
“It’s a freak result, we all know that and we don’t make more of it than we should. But, obviously, it’s the best we could have asked for. I’m pretty pleased.”
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