Egypt were beaten 2-1 by Portugal in their international friendly played in Zurich on Friday.

In a thrilling encounter, the Pharaohs went ahead in the 56th minute through Liverpool forward Mohammed Salah when he curled home a low effort at the edge of the area.

That looked like being the winner for Hector Cuper’s side until Cristiano Ronaldo brace in stoppage-time for Portugal victory.

Egypt went on to enjoy the better of the first half exchanges, some good pressing in midfield and a well-organised defence ensuring that Itumeleng Khune did not have a save to make.

The first opportunity of the night fell to Ali Gabr, but the defender was unable to keep his 10th-minute volley on target.

Pharaohs were however not overly ambitious in the opening half an hour, apparently happy to contain the Portugal, and their next chance only arrived in the 38th minute when Mo Salah did superbly to chest the ball into Ahmed Koka’s path, but although the shot was well-struck, it flew straight at goalkeeper Beto.

Portugal ended the half strongly, although apart from a Andre Silva free-kick which was not far off, they never really looked like scoring.

The capacity home crowd finally had something to cheer about when Egypt scored 56minutes into the second half when Salah neatly sent low effort the ball into an empty net after a bad error of judgement had left Beto with no option.

There were a flurry of substitutions in the second half but it didn’t change the pattern of the game, and as the clock ticked into injury time, Portugal were still behind.

A floated cross posed little danger to the Egyptians in the 92nd minute, until Ronaldo was left completely unmarked in the six yard box.

He made no mistake with his header but wasn’t finished there as from another Quaresma assist, this time from a freekick, he headed the winner with the last touch of the game.

Egypt’s XI: Mohamed El-Shennawy; Ahmed Fathi, Ali Gabr, Ahmed Hegazi, Mohamed Abdelshafy; Tarek Hamed, Mohamed Elneny; Mohamed Salah, Abdallah El-Said, Mahmoud Trezeguet; Ahmed Hassan Koka.

Portugal’s XI: Beto, Cédric Soares, Bruno Alves, Rolando, R. Guerreiro, Rúben Neves, João Mario, João Moutinho, Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, André Silva