With both teams already eliminated and nothing really to play for, one might have expected a dull encounter between the two bottom Group A sides.

That was certainly not the case and this was by no means a ‘friendly’, as attested by some of the tough tackles.

That being said, the 2-1 result in favour of the Saudis was purely academic, with no influence of the group.

Egyptian fans were the first to rejoice when their idol Mo Salah opened the scoring in the 21st minute, against the run of play.

Sandwiched between two defenders, he pulled down a through ball and delicately chipped it over the head of advancing keeper Yasser Al Mosailem.

Saudi Arabia were increasingly making a statement of intent and should have pulled level with a 39th minute penalty after the ball hit the arm of Ahmed Fathi.

Fahad Al Muwallad struck the spot kick well enough but Essam El Hadary saved superbly, pushing the ball onto the post.

As luck would have it, the Saudis were given another penalty after a jersey tug in the box and this time El Hadary was sent the wrong way as Salman Al Faraj nailed it for 1-1 and a more than deserved share at the break.

The second stanza was to and fro stuff, with Saudi Arabia the aggressors and El Hadary forced to make a terrific double save in the Egyptian goals.

But the justified win came in the 95th minute when Salem Al Dawsari tucked the ball away after a bit of ping pong in the box to make it 2-1 and farewell to both sides.

Thanks, and we’ll see you in 2022.