Egypt come from behind to beat Morocco and book Africa Cup of Nations semi-final spot

Aston Villa forward Trezeguet's extra-time goal sent Egypt through to the AFCON semi-finals, with his winner earning a 2-1 victory over Morocco.

Egypt and Morocco met in the last-16 with Premier League superstar Mo Salah appearing to give his side the edge, but it was Soufiane Boufal - once a player for Southampton - who scored first when Achraf Hakimi was felled in the box by Ayman Ashraf after three minutes.

It took several minutes for the referee to review VAR and then for the penalty to go ahead, but once in the lead they were untroubled in the first half by an Egyptian XI who struggled to break down Morocco’s defence, despite the expertise of manager Carlos Queiroz.

In the second half, Salah grabbed an equaliser from a defensive scramble in the box following a corner, but neither side could find a winner within regulation time.

Salah was at the heart of Egypt’s winner when he feinted past his marker down the wing before teeing up Trezeguet for a goal on 100 minutes, taking the seven-time winners into the semis.

Egypt struggled to impose themselves in the first half and had Salah to thank for their progress. Without him they had no creativity and were reduced to taking punts from distance.

Against Morocco their striker proved good enough to help them advance, but Cameroon will have the focus of a team that is backed and under pressure from their own crowd. They will not lose focus as Morocco did - they will hope.

If they fail to pull themselves together then they could find an eighth AFCON win beyond them.

Salah was relatively quiet for much of the match but he has often turned up for his various teams at crucial moments, and that was no different here. His equaliser was nothing special but it was vital, and when it came to setting up the winner it was his presence of mind under pressure that set up an easy finish for the winner when others could have failed.

Morocco: Bono 6, Saiss 6, Aguerd 6, Masina 6, Hakimi 7, Amrabat 6, Barkok 6, Amallah 6, Boufal 6, Munir 5, Nesyri 5. Subs: Rahimi, Mmae 6, Louza 6, Aboukhlal 6, Tissoudali 6.

Egypt: Abougabal 6, Kamal 5, Abdelmonem 6, Hegazi 5, Fetouh 6, Ayman 6, El Sulya 6, Elneny 6, Salah 7*, Marmoush 6, Mostafa 6. Subs: Trezeguet 7, Sayed 6, Alaa 6, Sobhy 6, Sobhi 6, Marwan 6.

4’ - HAKIMI PENALTY? - Ashraf absolutely cleans out Hakimi in the box and there is a VAR review

7’ - GOAL! MOROCCO 1-0 EGYPT - BOUFAL SCORES - From the penalty spot the forward strides towards the ball and leathers it high into the net.

47’ - SALAH EXCELLENCE - Jinking and moving into the box, he tees up Trezeguet. The ball sits up and he drags a shot just wide of the post.

53’ - GOAL! EGYPT 1-1 MOROCCO - SALAH SCORES - Corner comes in from the left, Marmoush meets it and brings an excellent save from Bono but it's straight back out to Salah who dinks it home.

81’ - ABOUGABAL SAVE - He pushes a header straight onto the bar from Aguerd!

110’ - GOAL! EGYPT 2-1 MOROCCO - TREZEGUET SCORES - Salah breaks down the right, jinks past his marker and slides a ball to the back post to give Trezeguet a simple back-post finish.