SADIO Mane hailed his record-breaking hat-trick as the best moment of his career so far.

The forward netted a scarcely-believable treble in the space of just two minutes and 56 seconds in the first half of the 6-1 win over Aston Villa.

It goes down as the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history, beating Robbie Fowler’s previous record of four minutes and 33 seconds.

“I can say it is in the best moment for me in my career,” said a delighted Mane.

“I’m very happy, but more important was the victory.

“I’m happy, because it was a great game and a great performance for the team, so I am happy for the victory.”

Clutching the hat-trick ball after the match, Mane revealed he would be taking it home with him – but that he had no intention of simply putting it on display.

Asked where he would be taking the ball, he said: “Home. I will play at home with it every day!”

Daily Echo:

Sadio Mane scores the second of his rapid fire hat-trick against Aston Villa

Mane explained he did not realise at the time that he had set a new record, and that he only discovered he had when he was doing his round of post-match interviews.

Asked whether he could believe what had happened, he said: “I believe, because I always work hard in training to scoring, so finally it was reward, so I am happy for that.”

Understandably, the Senegal international, who now has ten goals in his debut Premier League season, was over the moon after the match.

“I am happy for the team, because if you see the last few weeks it was not easy, but you have to accept it’s football,” he said.

“We have just tried to give our best in training, to work hard, and finally we got our reward.

Daily Echo:

Sadio Mane scores the first of his three goals against Aston Villa

“I think we did a great performance, because we worked together as a team.

“If you look, our last three games we always start late, but, yeah, I think everybody was conscious to that and I think everybody do what the manager says, and it was going well.

“I am happy, but I think the more important is to win. It’s important to score for the team, so I’m happy, the team win, for the fans and I think they will be happy.”

While Mane’s hat-trick was the highlight of the game, he still didn’t manage to score the best goal of the match.

That honour instead went to Shane Long for the second of his own two goals – a 40-yard stunner that made it 5-0.

Long also provided the assist for Mane’s second and third strikes.

“It was nice goal, unbelievable,” said Mane. “I am happy for him. He deserves it, because he always works hard in training.”