Kris Boyd just couldn’t believe what he was witnessing as Liverpool, led by Mo Salah, ran riot against Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday night in the Champions League.
The Rangers legend was doing punditry work for Sky when Salah came off the bench to score the quickest hat-trick in Champions League history – 6 minutes and 12 seconds – as Liverpool secured an emphatic 7-1 win.
Going into the break, Giovanni van Bronckhorst would have been pretty pleased with what he was seeing from his players because the scores were level.
But, this previously error-prone and confidence-sapped Liverpool side, which conceded three more at the weekend in the Premier League, found a switch from somewhere.
And by the time you could blink, Salah had three to his name and the Ibrox faithful were utterly silent at the devastation they have just watched unfold.
Former Scotland international Boyd was one of those people, as he hailed the ‘unbelievable’ work from Salah and Diogo Jota, as he jokingly asked if he could ‘go home’ after Salah’s hat-trick was confirmed, as he told Sky Sports News (12/10/22 at 9:50 pm).
“It’s a six-minute and 12-second, to be precise, hat-trick,” said Boyd. “He has been unbelievable since he has come on. The first one was a toe punt from an acute angle, and then after that, two unbelievable finishes.
“Thiago, some sharp passes, then get it into Jota, a flick around the corner and, out of nothing, he creates space. He is driving at speed. Stops the ball, then whips it past Allan McGregor into his near post for his second one.
“Then it was a long ball. Jota with an unbelievable touch. He ends up playing it to him and he gets turned, then just bends it around I think it’s Barisic or Davis.
“I know he has been criticised for some of his performances, but since he has come on, he has been unbelievable. His finishing, if that’s him short on confidence, then I wouldn’t want to see him when his confidence is high, that’s all I am saying. I am away. Don’t come back to me. I am going home.”
MORALE-BOOSTING AND MORALE-SAPPING
It’s pretty well-documented and known the gulf in class between Rangers and Liverpool, in terms of quality, and most importantly, from a financial aspect.
But losing in such a manner is soul-destroying for a team, as the Gers have little time to pick themselves up ahead of their trip to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
If they drop points at the weekend, then the fans will be a little bit more aggressive about it because of what unfolded last night.
As for Liverpool, it has been a rocky season full of problems from back to front, but perhaps winning in this fashion will change their fortunes ahead of their clash against Manchester City at the weekend.
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