One minute, Senegal have been cruising into the final 16 of the World Cup.
The following, they have been left questioning how one other dream had slipped via their grasp.
Supervisor Pape Thiaw’s facet led 2018 semi-finalists Belgium 2-0 with solely 4 minutes left of regular time, after targets from Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr.
However after outplaying their opponents, they in some way “discovered a approach to lose the sport”, as ex-Republic of Eire skipper Roy Keane put it on ITV.
Romelu Lukaku’s 86th-minute aim sparked hope for Belgium and three minutes later, captain Youri Tielemans headed in an equaliser from Leandro Trossard’s cross – the pair have been earlier seen having a heated argument – to drive further time.
Then got here the controversial penalty, awarded for Lamine Camara’s problem on Tielemans following a video assistant referee (VAR) overview, and transformed by the skipper himself 125 minutes in.
It condemned Senegal to additional agony, having already endured the ache of being stripped of their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title earlier this 12 months.
“Soccer is simply loopy. I could not name any of this sport,” former England striker Dion Dublin informed BBC Radio 5 Dwell.
Late drama, controversy, historical past and heartbreak – this last-32 tie had all the pieces and right here, BBC Sport makes an attempt to make sense of all of it.
