The curtain was on Friday night drawn on the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt with Algeria emerging champions.

The North Africans stunned their Senegalese opponents by taking the lead early on with their first attack.

Baghdad Bounedjah had cut in from the left in the second minute of play and hit a shot, which took the hugest of deflections off the sliding Salif Sane.

It looped so high into the air, almost into the Cairo sky, over the goalkeeper and then dipped at the last second to enter the net.

All efforts by the West Africans – who have never won the cup – to come back into the game proved abortive. This is Algeria’s second time of winning the championship, the first being in 1990.