- The UEFA Champions League matchday four was played between Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 October
- Mohamed Salah broke Lewandowski’s record with his hat trick against Rangers on Wednesday
- Heung-min Son and Harry Kane achieved a record fete in assisting each other in Tottenham’s clash against Frankfurt
Mohamed Salah wrote his name in the Champions League history with his quickfire hat-trick in Liverpool’s 7-1 thrashing of Rangers on Wednesday, scoring the fastest ever hat trick in the competition.
Just six minutes and 12 seconds separated the Egyptian’s first and third goals in Liverpool’s comeback win, the shortest timeframe ever recorded in the Champions League.
Salah’s hat-trick saw him overdo the efforts of former Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski, who has scored two of the five fastest trebles in Champions League history.
Lewandowski – now in Barcelona required 11 minutes and seven seconds to hit a three goals against Red Star Belgrade in November 2019, an achievement he bettered against Salzburg in March this year, when he scored three times in 10 minutes and 22 seconds.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his third against Rangers in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday Oct 12 2022. | PHOTO: Sky Sports |
Other than Salah, only Bafetimbi Gomis and Mike Newell have scored a hat-trick in quicker time than Lewandowski, while Cristiano Ronaldo sits just outside the top five after managing an 11-minute treble against Malmo for Real Madrid in 2015.
Salah scored his hat-trick over two minutes faster than previous record holder Gomis, who took eight minutes and 45 seconds to do so against Dinamo Zagreb in 2011.
Salah brought up his treble with a trademark strike, latching onto Diogo Jota’s pass before cutting in from the right wing and bending a fine finish into the top-left corner.
Jota assisted all three of Salah’s goals as Liverpool returned to form in emphatic fashion, which represents the first time a player has assisted a team-mate’s Champions League treble since March 2012, when Franck Ribery teed up Mario Gomez’s strikes for Bayern against Basel
Meanwhile, Salah has now scored 38 Champions League goals for Liverpool, the most managed by any player for an English club in the competition.
The Egypt talisman had previously trailed former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, who each hit 36 goals for their respective clubs in the competition.
Still in records set, Son Heung-min’s link-up with fellow Tottenham star Harry Kane is purely a “pay-off for hard work”.
Son scored twice on Wednesday in the clash against Eintracht Frankfurt, either side of a Kane penalty, as Spurs ran out 3-2 winners over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Heung-min Son celebrates after scoring against Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League. | PHOTO: Courtesy |
Antonio Conte’s side moved to the Group D summit after coming from behind to defeat the Europa League holders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Kane set up Son for the equaliser after the hosts fell behind to Daichi Kamada’s early strike, meaning the pair have now combined to score on 50 occasions for Spurs across all competitions.
Kane has teed up 24 goals for Son, who has supplied 26 assists for the England captain. Since the start of last season, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, the scorer of a record-setting hat-trick in Liverpool’s win over Rangers elsewhere on Wednesday, is the only Premier League player with more strikes in all competitions (39) than the Spurs pair (Kane has netted 36, with Son scoring 29).
The South Korea captain paid tribute to his fearsome partnership with Kane, telling BT Sport: “We just understand each other really well. I know what he likes to do, and he’s the same.
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