Islam Slimani rose highest to head home and secure Algeria a 1-1 draw with Russia and send his side through to the last 16 of the World Cup finals for the first time in their history.
The Sporting Lisbon striker nodded home on the hour-mark, equalising Aleksandr Kokorin's early opener and condemning the Russians to another early exit from the tournament.
It was another personal nightmare for Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev who was at fault for Lee Keun-ho's goal in the 1-1 draw with South Korea, this time coming to claim a Yacine Brahimi free-kick and completely missing the ball, giving Slimani an empty net to nod into.
It was Russia who struck the first blow, however, after a cagey opening six minutes at the Arena de Baixada.
There didn't seem to be any danger when Oleg Shatov swung over a deep cross from the left wing but Kokorin had space between the two Algerian centre backs and bulleted a header into the top right corner to make it 1-0.
The goal was particularly galling for Algeria who were down to ten men at the time, Sofiane Feghouli off the pitch getting a wound bandaged after clashing heads with teammate Carl Medjani leaving the Algeria's right flank empty for Shatov to gallop into.
Algeria had their first sniff of goal on 13 minutes when Brahimi exchanged a one-two on the edge of the box with Feghouli and poked the ball across the six-yard box where Slimani was lurking but Akinfeev was off his line quickly to snuff out the danger.
Shatov was continuing to cause problems for the Algerian defence, cutting inside from the right flank and bursting away from Feghouli to curl a shot narrowly wide, the Algerian continuing to struggle with his head problem after a second spell on the sidelines.
At the other end Akinfeev produced some impressive acrobatics to paw away a Slimani header from a flicked-on corner but the referee had already blown for an infringement in the box.
Algeria continued to probe but all too often their attacks foundering against a well-drilled Russian defence, and Djamel Mesbah found himself in the referee's notebook for a foul in the corner on Aleksandr Kerzhakov.
Russia continued to struggle at set pieces, another Bramini corner finding Slimani unmarked ten yards out but he could only head straight into Akinfeev's hands.
Russian made a great start to the second half, Aleksandr Samedov breaking forward and playing a one-two with Kokorin only for Rais M'Bolhi to rush off his line and block the shot.
But it was all square when full-back Aleksei Kozlov brought down Abdelmoumene Djabou in the corner and Akinfeev could only watch helplessly as Brahimi's free-kick soared over his head to the unmarked Slimani for his second goal of the World Cup.
Russia looked to respond immediately, substitute Igor Denisov tested M'Bolhi with a low effort that the keeper dealt with at the second attempt.
Kerzhakov then forced the keeper into another save after he shot from an angle but M'Bolhi was always behind the ball.
After that Russia rung the changes up front with Russia manager Fabio Capello throwing on Alan Dzagoev and Maksim Kanunnikov as they searched for a winner but in truth they created little, a resolute Algeria clinging on for a famous result.
Algeria 1
Slimani 60
Russia 1
Kokorin 6
Referee: Cüneyt Çakir
Attendance: 39,311
Algeria (4-5-1): M'Bolhi, Mandi, Mesbah, Bentaleb, Belkalem, Halliche, Feghouli, Medjani, Slimani (Soudani, 91), Brahimi (Yebda, 70), Djabou (Ghilas, 76)
Subs not used: Mohamed, Bougherra, Ghoulam, Lacen, Zemmamouche, Cadamuro, Taïder, Mahrez, Mostefa
Russia (4-4-1-1): Akinfeev, Kozlov, Kombarov, Glushakov (Denisov, 45), Berezoutski, Ignashevitch, Kerzhakov (Kanunnikov, 80), Faizulin, Kokorin, Shatov (Dzagoev, 67), Samedov
Subs not used: Schennikov, Semenov, Lodygin, Granat, Mogilevets, Ryzhikov, Zhirkov, Ionov, Eshchenko
