There are comebacks, and then there is whatever Belgium summoned from the wreckage on a delirious night in Seattle. For 86 minutes they had been outfought, out-thought and staring at the end of their World Cup, trailing 2-0 and running out of ideas. By the time Youri Tielemans lashed a penalty into the top-right corner in the fifth minute of injury time in extra time, they had somehow won 3-2 and left Senegal broken on the turf.

This was a Round of 32 tie that had every appearance of a routine Senegalese progression before it detonated. Habib Diarra and Ismaïla Sarr had built what looked an unassailable lead, and the West Africans carried themselves with the calm of a side already thinking about the last 16. Football, though, keeps its cruellest twists for those who assume the job is done.

Romelu Lukaku lit the fuse, Tielemans provided the equaliser, and then, in the dying breath of extra time, the same midfielder held his nerve from the spot. Lumen Field, which had spent an hour subdued and expectant, erupted into disbelief. Belgium march on; Senegal go home haunted by the four minutes that undid ninety of near-flawless work.

Senegal seize control

For long stretches this was Senegal's match to lose, and they played it with authority. The breakthrough arrived on 25 minutes, Habib Diarra pouncing from very close range to sweep a right-footed finish into the centre of the goal. It was the reward for a first half in which Senegal pressed with intent and refused Belgium any rhythm.

The second goal, six minutes after the restart, felt like the decisive blow. Moussa Niakhaté threaded a through ball that split the Belgian rearguard, and Ismaïla Sarr did the rest, striking cleanly from the centre of the box into the bottom-right corner. Two-nil, and Senegal looked utterly in command of both the scoreboard and the tempo.

Everything about their performance suggested a team ready to close out a knockout tie. They were compact, incisive on the break, and comfortable with the physical exchanges. For all Belgium's possession, there was little sign of the collapse to come. Senegal had done everything right — which will make the final act all the harder to bear.

The four-minute storm

Belgium's revival began with a name that has scripted so many big-tournament moments. On 86 minutes, Thomas Meunier delivered a cross from the right and Romelu Lukaku attacked it at the near post, jabbing a right-footed finish high into the centre of the goal from the six-yard box. It was a goal that felt more like a consolation than a lifeline, but it changed the temperature of the night.

Three minutes later, the improbable became real. Leandro Trossard swung a ball into the area and Youri Tielemans rose to meet it, guiding a header into the bottom-left corner. From 2-0 down and seemingly beaten, Belgium had drawn level in the space of 180 breathless seconds, and Senegal's composure drained away with each passing moment.

The momentum had swung so violently that extra time felt inevitable, and so it proved. Senegal, who had controlled the contest with such assurance, now clung on as Belgium smelt blood. The stadium roared them forward, sensing that a team who had refused to die were not about to settle for penalties.

The final twist

Extra time stretched Senegal to breaking point, and it was in the very last act that they finally snapped. Deep into the fifth minute of added time in the second period of extra time, Belgium won a penalty, and there was only one man to take it. Youri Tielemans, already the equaliser, stepped up and drilled his right-footed effort into the top-right corner.

It was a finish of ice-cold precision in a moment of pure chaos, and it completed a personal night Tielemans will never forget: two goals, the second of them the sweetest and most decisive of his career. Senegal's players sank to the ground, unable to reckon with a defeat that had seemed impossible barely half an hour earlier.

For Belgium, it was validation of the refusal to accept the obvious. They had been second best for the vast majority of the tie, yet found something in the closing exchanges that separates the survivors from the eliminated. Lukaku's poacher's instinct, Trossard's delivery, Meunier's cross and Tielemans's twin strikes stitched together an escape that borders on the absurd.

What comes next

Belgium advance to the last 16 carrying the intangible momentum that only a comeback of this scale can generate. Sides who win in this fashion often believe themselves capable of anything, and there will be a swagger about them now that no amount of tactical planning could manufacture. Whether their defending survives the next round is another matter entirely, for they were fortunate to be within reach at all.

For Senegal, the reckoning will be brutal. To dominate a World Cup knockout tie for 85 minutes and lose it in extra time is the kind of wound that lingers long after a tournament ends. Their journey home will be filled with the same unanswerable question: how does a two-goal lead, so calmly protected, evaporate so completely?

The margins in a competition like this are savage, and Lumen Field offered the starkest illustration. Belgium live on, giddy and grateful; Senegal depart, superior for so long yet undone at the last. Tielemans's penalty will be replayed for years — a goal that rescued one nation's dream and shattered another's in the same swing of a right foot.