It's not a sight you see very often, but Mohamed Salah's penalty miss against Senegal on Tuesday night was as wild as it was unexpected.
The Premier League's top scorer, normally deadly from the spot, approached the ball with his trademark run-up, but with the immense pressure of World Cup qualification on the line, this time he could only smashed it over the bar.
Instead it was once again left to Anfield teammate Sadio Mane to seal glory for Senegal - as he did in the AFCON final - and send the Lions of Teranga to Qatar, while Egypt were left to ponder what might have been.
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But Salah and his crestfallen teammates had more than just a high-energy Senegal team to contend with in their winner-takes-all qualification match.
A partisan crowd inside the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor made the atmosphere intimidating for the visitors, but that quite often stepped over the line.
Throughout the match, literally from the very first minute, a large number of laser pens were projected by supporters onto the faces of the Egyptian players. Not just one or two that had been sneaked into the ground. Hundreds of them.
So it was little surprise when the green beams of light appeared on mass every time an Egypt player took a penalty during the shoot-out and Salah was no exception. The Liverpool forward's face was literally covered in green lights as he prepared to take his spot-kick.
Perhaps it is no surprise then that the end result was an effort that was blasted over the bar. Salah himself is unlikely to seek to make excuses, but whoever was in charge of security at the stadium obviously hadn't been briefed that such laser pens are prohibited items - or chose not to notice them.
This was not a few isolated incidents however. It was an on-going problem for the entire match and something that Confederation of Africa Football must surely act upon to ensure there is no repeat.
It is too late for Salah now, but he will now be looking to shine a light on Liverpool's multiple silverware prospects for the rest of the season.
