Argentina's dramatic 3-2 comeback v Egypt keeps dream of back-to-back World Cups alive

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Enzo Fernandez headed a stoppage-time winner as the reigning champions produced one of the great World Cup comebacks in Atlanta.

The Chelsea midfielder snatched a thrilling win for the reigning champions in the second minute of added time after his side had trailed 2-0 in the 79th minute and looked to be crashing out.

Yasser Ibrahim gave Egypt a shock half-time lead before Lionel Messi’s penalty was saved and Mostafa Zico put the Pharaohs 2-0 up in the second period after his earlier effort had been ruled out by VAR.

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But Cristian Romero’s header threw Argentina a lifeline and after Lionel Messi smashed home an 83rd-minute equaliser, Fernandez completed a remarkable fightback.

Argentina, who had been given a huge scare by Cape Verde in the previous round, somehow stayed on course for the "bicampeonato", a successful defence of the World Cup they won in 2022 in Qatar.

Egypt faced a big step up in quality after group draws against Belgium and Iran sandwiched a win over New Zealand before they edged Australia in a last-32 penalty shoot-out.

But after a scrappy opening they stole into the lead with the first effort on target in the match as Ibrahim got in front of Lisandro Martinez to head home Marwan Attia’s excellent cross in the 15th minute.

Egypt’s shock lead looked set to be short-lived when Nicolas Tagliafico went tumbling under Haissem Hassan’s clumsy challenge soon after.

But Messi’s unconvincing spot-kick was comfortably saved by Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, who dived low to his left to palm the ball away.

Egypt were forced to defend deep and in numbers after the restart, but thought they had doubled their advantage through Mostafa Zico’s brilliant goal in the 58th minute, only for VAR to rule it out for a foul in the build-up.

The North Africans were not to be denied a second nine minutes later though. Another thrilling counter-attack, involving Mohamed Salah and Hassan, saw the latter’s cut-back swept home by Zico in the 67th minute.

Argentina responded to the relief of their shell-shocked fans with 11 minutes left when Romero headed home Messi’s cross to set up a grandstand finale.

Messi then pounced on a loose ball in the box four minutes later to slam home an equaliser – his eighth goal of the tournament and 21st at World Cups in total – which raised the Atlanta Stadium roof.

And in the second minute of time added on, Fernandez snatched victory for Argentina with a lung-busting run into the box to head Lautaro Martinez’s cross into the top corner and break Egyptian hearts.