Kalidou Koulibaly fired his country into the last 16 - and then turned his aim towards their next opponents.
Chelsea's defensive kingpin spoke of his pride after netting his first international goal in 67 matches as the Lions of Teranga deservedly booked their spot in the knock-out stages.
The big defender then paid tribute to late Senegalese star Papa Bouba Diop on the second anniversary of his passing, gave a mention to the victims of a landslide in Naples - his adopted second home - and saluted the absent talismanic Sadio Mane who sent a "Good luck" message before kick-off.
Koulibaly fired home just two minutes after Ecuador had equalised Ismaila Sarr’s first-half penalty to settle this winner-takes-all-final group game.
He said: "There are lots of things going on. We knew the anniversary of Papa’s death was important, we wanted to make him proud. He was a source of inspiration to all the players.
"It was important to make his family, our own families and the whole of Senegal proud. We wanted to show exactly why Senegal are the champions of Africa.
"Two-thirds of the world probably thought we wouldn't go through after Sadio's injury. But we are a family, a well-oiled team. There is a dream of going beyond the quarter-final. We keep believing, we want to relate the story of Senegalese football.
"The next game will be tough, every game is. But the team who plays against us will be a little bit afraid. They can see we have a lot of talent - that we can do good things."
Ecuador were entirely passive in an opening half that was far removed from their efforts in the competition so far. A shot count of 12-0 in Senegal’s favour accurately reflected where the balance of play lay.
As it was, Senegal had only just one goal to show for their efforts and it didn’t arrive until the penultimate minute. A quick free-kick caught right-back Angelo Preciado napping. He managed only to divert the ball into Sarr’s path.
The forward powered forward until he was - and the best way to describe this - is 'taken out' by Piero Hincapie. Ref Clement Turpin had a good game overall. He would have changed his first name to ‘Dick’ had he robbed the Senegalese of a spot-kick. Sarr followed the method practised by the likes of Ivan Toney to slot home.
Ecuador coach Gustavo Alfaro had to make changes at half-time. Moises Caicedo poked home at the far post to level after Felix Torres flicked on a corner. But all that good work was undone when Enner Valencia inadvertently knocked a ball into Koulibaly’s path. He finished on the full.
Alfaro said: "The first half wasn't good enough. Truth be said, we weren't ourselves. We didn't use our usual system or style. I wish we’d had played in the first half like we did in the second."
