Liverpool star Mohamed Salah weaved his magic to score in stoppage time as already-qualified Egypt nailed rivals Tunisia 3-2 in their penultimate Nations Cup qualifier on Friday, maintaining their 100 percent start under Javier Aguirre.
The Pharaohs came out on top in their first real test under the Mexican coach, whose first three matches in charge ended with comfortable wins over Niger and eSwatini (twice).
An end-to-end affair looked as though it was heading for a draw but Salah, who was somewhat quiet until then, sent fans at Alexandria's Borg El-Arab Stadium into raptures with a brilliant finish after a neat exchange with substitute Salah Mohsen.
Egypt fell to an early goal from Naim Sliti but turned the match on its head with a deflected shot from livewire winger Mahmoud Trezeguet and a close-range header from central defender Baher El-Mohamadi either side of the interval.
However, Sliti netted again after a defensive blunder to restore parity, only for the ever-reliable Salah to settle the tie into Egypt's favour in typical fashion.
He took his tally to 39 international goals to move third in Egypt's all-time top scorers list, 30 goals behind former Ahly and Zamalek striker Hossam Hassan.
Egypt are joint top with Tunisia on 12 points but the latter look favorites to finish on top, given their better head-to-head record virtue of the away goals they scored against the Pharaohs. Tunisia beat Egypt 1-0 in their opening qualifier in June 2017.
Tunisia meet eSwatini and Egypt play Niger away from home in the last round of games in Group J next March.
Mohamed Salah’s goal for Egypt against Tunisia at the death sends the Pharaohs joint-top of their #2019AFCONQ group. pic.twitter.com/Y5HQZChH67
— Marwan Ahmed (@MarwanAhmed_KF) November 16, 2018