Roberto Firmino has claimed he knew Mohamed Salah would bag his first Champions League hat-trick for Liverpool after the Egyptian had scored his first goal against Rangers.
Salah came off the bench to net the quickest treble in the competition's history when taking just six minutes 12 seconds to achieve the feat in the Reds' record-breaking 7-1 romp at Ibrox on Wednesday.
Firmino, who scored twice earlier in the game and set up Liverpool's third for Darwin Nunez, had been replaced just moments before the Egyptian began his astonishing hat-trick. And he wasn't surprised by Salah's latest goalscoring exploits.
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"Amazing!" said Firmino. "When he scored his first goal I told Darwin on the bench he will score a hat-trick, 100%
"I could feel it from the bench. That's exactly what he did and I'm so happy for him."
Firmino now has eight goals and four assists in 12 games this season, with only Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane having scored more goals for a Premier League club.
And speaking to UEFA.com, the 31-year-old added: "I am very happy. I always try my best to score goals and to help the team win. I play for the team first. Good things will come, 100% I believe this.
"It was a very tough game but we knew that beforehand. We tried our best to score goals. We did that and we won and we're very happy about that."
Liverpool need only a point from their next Champions League group game at Ajax in a fortnight to secure qualification for the knockout stages.
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