premierleague

liverpool 5 Salah (4, 43, 77, 85), Firminho (49) watford 0

Jurgen Klopp admitted Mohamed Salah was ‘on the way’ to earning comparisons with Lionel Messi after the Egyptian hit a fantastic four as Liverpool routed Watford.

Salah scored four to take his tally for the season to 36 from 38 starts and set up the other for Roberto Firmino as he left the Hornets’ defenders dazed and confused.

He overtook Fernando Torres’ record of 33 from 2007/08 to have the most prolific first season in a Liverpool shirt and there are still two months of the campaign remaining.

Plus he went four goals clear of Tottenham’s Harry Kane and is now in pole position to win the Golden Boot award as top scorer.

But it was the manner of the goals that made you think of Messi. For his first and third goals especially, the way the ball was glued to the Egyptian’s left foot inside the box was reminiscent of Barcelona’s little genius. The Liverpool manager said: “Mo is on the way so that is good. But I don’t think Mo or anyone else wants to be compared to the great Lionel Messi.

“He is the one doing what he has been doing for what feels like 20 years or so. The last player I know who had the same influence on a team performance was Diego Maradona.

“But Mo is in a fantastic way, that’s for sure. The boys love playing with him and he loves playing with them.”

From the moment Salah opened the scoring inside four minutes, this felt like it was going to be a routine home win.

The Egyptian made it two just before half-time after a gorgeous cross from Andy Robertson, before doing the same for Firmino after the break.

His hat-trick duly arrived as he left three defenders mesmerised and a late tap-in gave him his fourth.

The result took Liverpool above Tottenham into third and should fire a timely warning to Manchester City ahead of their Champions League quarter-final next month.