A penalty from a fragile Mo Salah was not enough to stop Russia from claiming a second consecutive win to top Group A as the tournament hosts ran out 3-1 winners.

The home side were looking to continue their early form, where they started Group A with a 5-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia, and Egypt knew they had to at least get a point after a disappointing late defeat to Uruguay in their opening match, if they wanted retain realistic hopes of making the knockout rounds.

Russia made the early running, with rumoured Arsenal target Aleksandr Golovin dragging a shot just wide from distance. Trezeguet then had a curling shot well stopped, before Denis Cheryshev fired a free kick over.

The Russian crowd cheered their side on as they made a bright start, and tried to unsettle their opponents with boos whenever they had a touch.

Despite that, Egypt began to grow into the game on the half hour mark, looking comfortable on the ball, but as Mo Salah became more heavily involved – Yuri Zhirkov whipped the ball off him as he lurked at the back post, and he fired wide after the ball bounced in his favour – he gave the impression of lacking sharpness following his Champions League final injury. A miscontrol from a long ball from goalkeeper Ahmed El Shenawy then put his side under pressure where they had been looking to counter.

Seconds after the restart, Ahmed Fathi turned the ball into his own net after he slid in ahead of Artem Dzyuba, misdirecting his interception against the post and in. Fathi appeared to claim he was fouled by Dzyuba, but both VAR and the pitch referee were deaf to his appeals.

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Salah had an excellent chance when the ball fell to him in the box, but couldn’t get the ball in place with his trademark speed of foot, and struck a shot straight at a defender. For Liverpool, you would have thought, he would have finished without hesitation or error.

Russia made victory certain when Cheryshev cooly side-footed a pull-back from Brazilian-born Mario Fernandes past El Shenawy. Three minutes later, Dzyuba made it three with a fierce finish of his own after neat control, consigning Egypt to play out 30 minutes with what felt like 10 men and a Salah facsimile.

Salah won a penalty when he was clearly tugged to the ground, though the referee needed VAR assistance to make it clear the foul took place in the box. Despite his injury, he was able fire the ball past Igor Akinfeev, but it was too little, too late as he struggled to impose himself.

Nerves almost got the better of the home side, as they invited pressure and looked to hold onto their lead, but were able to seal an impressive victory, looking like one of the best sides of the tournament right now.