Tielemans’ extra-time penalty completes Belgium’s comeback against Senegal

With eight minutes left in Seattle, Senegal were 2-0 up and cruising into the last 16. They did not get there. Belgium tore the tie apart in the closing minutes of normal time and then broke Senegalese hearts in the 125th, Youri Tielemans burying a penalty at the very end of extra time to complete a 3-2 comeback that few in the stadium saw coming.

Senegal build a two-goal lead

For an hour this was Senegal’s night. Habib Diarra put them ahead and Ismaïla Sarr made it two before the hour, the winger racing clear and finishing off balance to leave Belgium chasing the game. The Red Devils looked flat, short of ideas and running out of road, and every Senegal attack carried the threat of a third that would have ended the contest for good.

Belgium had chances to get back into it and kept finding Mory Diaw in the way. The Senegal goalkeeper had answers to everything for most of the second half, and with the clock ticking past 80 minutes the West African side were within touching distance of one of the tournament’s standout wins.

Two goals in three minutes

Then it turned. Romelu Lukaku pulled one back in the 86th minute to give Belgium a lifeline nobody had really believed in, and three minutes later Tielemans pounced on a defensive error to level it at 2-2. From cruising, Senegal were suddenly hanging on, the momentum ripped away from them in the space of 180 seconds, and extra time arrived with only one team looking like it wanted to be there.

The additional half hour was tense and scrappy, both sides tiring, and it looked to be drifting toward penalties. Then, deep into the second period of extra time, Tielemans went down under a challenge from Lamine Camara. The referee pointed to the spot after a VAR check, Senegal furious at the decision, and Tielemans dusted himself off to send Diaw the wrong way in the 125th minute.

A cruel way to go out

There was barely time to restart. Belgium had somehow turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win and a place in the last 16, and Tielemans, with the equaliser and the winner, walked off the hero. For a Belgium side that has spent years being told its best days are behind it, this was the kind of night that keeps a World Cup run alive.

Senegal will feel robbed, and not only by the penalty. They were the better team for an hour and had the game where they wanted it, only to be undone by a few minutes of madness and a decision that will be argued over long after the flight home. That is the knockout stage. It does not care how well you played for 85 minutes if you cannot see out the last five.

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