HOW DID YOU DO THAT, MO?

Salah is like Maradona at his best with latest flash of genius

deliver that sublime pass to Mane, whose finish was clinical. Though the second would take until the 37th minute, it was coming sure as a Ranieri bon mot.

Milner was the architect, releasing Mane with his probing pass and then powering past him to offer an overlap option and crossing for Firmino touch in.

It was all so bad for Watford that Ranieri had to change it at halftime, with Massina hooked and Tom Cleverley offering midfield support as they switched to 4-3-3.

Much good it did them though. They were 4-0 down within nine minutes of the restart.

The third fell into that category of being technically right but morally wrong when allowed by VAR.

Andy Robertson drilled the ball across goal, Cathcart slid in to prevent an offside Salah scoring.

The ball rebounded off Foster and Firmino, not offside, converted the spilled ball yet the goal wouldn’t happen without the defender intervening to stop an offside player scoring. Watford might point to Hernandez shooting just wide on 73 minutes, Sarr striking a post on 84 minutes, though that was after substitutions had indicated game over.

It was substitute Neco Williams, whose surging run and cross offered Firmino the tap in to complete his hat-trick with the last kick of the game. It was a fitting finale.

WATFORD (3-4-3): Foster 7; Cathcart 6, Troost-Ekong 5, Rose 4; Femenia 4 (Ngakia 58min, 5), Kucka 4, Sissoko 5, Masina 3 (Cleverley 46, 5); Dennis 4 (Pedro 69, 5) Sarr 4, Hernandez 4. Subs (not used): Bachman, Louza, Sema, Gosling, Fletcher, Tufan.

LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Kelleher 7; Alexander-Arnold 8.5 (OxladeChamberlain 64, 7), Matip 8, Van Dijk 8, Robertson 8 (Tsimikas 64, 7); Milner 9 (Williams 83), Henderson 8, Keita 8; Salah 9.5, Firmino 9, Mane 8.5. Subs

(not used): Adrian, Konate, Gomez, Minamino, Jota, Origi.

Referee: J Moss (West Yorkshire) 6.5.