Senegal travelled to Egypt for a rematch of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations final, which Mendy helped his side win in a penalty shoot-out, but this time with the prize on offer being a place at the 2022 World Cup.

However, on this occasion it was Egypt who emerged as the victors with a 1-0 win in Cairo, although Mendy was desperately unlucky not to get his clean sheet and secure an away draw for his country.

The only goal of the match came after just four minutes, with a big slice of fortune, as Mendy did well to tip Mohamed Salah’s shot onto the crossbar with a good save, only to see the ball ricochet into the net off the back of hapless defender Saliou Ciss for an own goal.

The tie isn’t over yet, though, with Mendy having another chance to help Senegal reach the World Cup when they are at home for the second leg of this play-off on Tuesday evening.

In the younger age groups, Levi Colwill played the full 90 minutes for England Under-21s as they boosted their chances of qualifying for next year’s European Championship with a comfortable 4-1 home win over Andorra.

The versatile defender featured at centre-back as the Young Lions raced into an early lead in Bournemouth, with the one disappointment being that Andorra’s second-half consolation goal denied him a clean sheet.

That result leaves England six points off top spot in their group, but they have three games in hand over first-placed Czech Republic, who also won tonight.

There were two Chelsea representatives in the England Under-18s side as they beat Sweden 3-2 in a friendly match played in Spain. Charlie Webster played just over an hour in midfield and Lewis Hall, whose low cross created the opening goal, was at left-back before being replaced in added time.