Champions League: Mohamed Salah rewrites history, breaks Ronaldo and Lewandowski record

Liverpool sent a strong message to Manchester City ahead of the weekend's clash by drubbing Rangers in their Champions League group stage match. Liverpool crushed Rangers 7-1 to put one foot in the Champions League last 16. The one-sided contest also witnessed Mohamad Salah getting his name etched in the history books.

Champions League: Mohamed Salah scores hat-trick inside five minutes

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp decided to bench Mohamad Salah for the Rangers tie. After letting a goal early in the first half, Liverpool destroyed their opponents in the second half by scoring six and conceding nothing. The highlight of the second half was the hat trick from Mohamed Salah. Coming from the bench the Egyptian striker scored the goals in the 75th, 80th, and 81st minutes.

Salah took away the record previously held by former Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored an eight-minute hat-trick against Dinamo Zagreb in a 7-1 win in 2011. Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Raheem Sterling have all scored hattricks but took 11 minutes to do so in the competition. Cristiano Ronaldo bagged an 11-minute hattrick while playing for Real Madrid against Malmo in the 2015 edition of the competition. Rober Lewandowski achieved the feat last year while playing for Bayern Munich against Salzburg.

Liverpool vs Rangers match highlights 

Rangers opened the scoring in the 12th minute through Scott Arfield who fired a low shot from the edge of the area to break the deadlock after  Liverpool's Fabio Carvalho lost possession in his own half. Liverpool levelled the score following a goal from Firmino in the 24 minutes. The Brazilian headed the ball into the net from Konstantinos Tsimikas. Liverpool went ahead 10 minutes into the second half with striker Firmino finding the net again. Liverpool went 3-1 up when after Darwin Nunez scored the goal.

However, Salah inflicted more damage starting by poking his first goal and Liverpool's fourth from a tight angle in the 75th minute. Five minutes later, the Egyptian curled in another from the edge of the area and immediately completed his hat trick with another clinical strike. Harvey Elliott completed the rout in the 87th. Liverpool is second in Group A with 9 points with two matches remaining, while Napoli leads with 12 points and advanced to the round of 16 by beating Ajax 4-