The cruellest exit: Belgium stun Senegal with the latest goal in World Cup history

Senegal led Belgium 2-0 with four minutes left and lost 3-2 after extra time, undone by the latest goal in World Cup history. Habib Diarra and Ismaïla Sarr scored before Romelu Lukaku and a Youri Tielemans header forced extra time, and Tielemans won it from a controversial 124th-minute penalty. Heartbreak for Senegal; Belgium reach the last 16.

Football can be unbearably cruel, and Senegal know it now more than ever. The Lions of Teranga led Belgium 2-0 with four minutes of normal time to play, a place in the Round of 16 within touching distance, and somehow lost 3-2 after extra time, undone by the latest goal in World Cup history. It is the tournament's greatest comeback and its most heartbreaking exit rolled into one.

Senegal had been magnificent. Habib Diarra pounced on a rebound to open the scoring on twenty-four minutes after an Ismaïla Sarr header rattled the post, and just after the hour Sarr made it two, chesting down a glorious Moussa Niakhaté pass and smashing past Thibaut Courtois. Two-nil, and the Belgians were on the ropes.

Then Rudi Garcia rolled the dice. On eighty-six minutes substitute Romelu Lukaku gave Belgium a lifeline, finishing a Thomas Meunier cross at the near post, and three minutes later captain Youri Tielemans completed the improbable, looping a header in from a Leandro Trossard cross. From 2-0 down with four minutes left to 2-2. Extra time beckoned, and the momentum had swung violently.

The finish will be argued about for years. Deep into extra-time stoppage time, the referee was sent to the pitchside monitor and ruled that substitute Lamine Camara had fouled Tielemans in the box. The Senegalese players surrounded the official in fury and tried to delay the kick, but the penalty stood, and Tielemans buried it at 124 minutes and 44 seconds, the latest goal ever scored at a World Cup. Belgium had completed a heist.

For Senegal, it is a devastation that hardly bears thinking about. They out-played Belgium for ninety minutes, took the two-goal lead their football deserved, and were beaten by a comeback and a VAR decision they will feel robbed by. Pape Thiaw's side, who had come so far since thrashing Iraq and pushing France, leave the tournament with a searing sense of injustice.

Belgium, so nearly out, march on to the Round of 16, having also survived a scare after topping their group. This is the resilience of a team that refuses to die, even when it plays badly.

For Kenya, this one is hard to take. Senegal are one of Africa's great sides and carried the continent's hopes, and to see them fall this way, two goals up and beaten by the last kick of a controversial night, is a gut-punch. The manner of it will sting for a long time. Simba wa Teranga wamechezwa vibaya na penalty ya mwisho, machozi Nairobi na Dakar: the Lions of Teranga were undone by a last-gasp penalty, and there are tears from Nairobi to Dakar. But Africa fights on: Morocco, Cape Verde, Algeria, Egypt and Ghana still fly the flag as the knockouts rage. Our Africa verdict so admired this Senegal, and they deserved better than this.