Hannibal Mejri sparked tense scenes at the World Cup after throwing the ball at a rival player's face on Saturday.
The Manchester United young gun was named on the bench for Tunisia's Group D clash with Australia at the Al-Janoub Stadium, with both sides needing a victory to strengthen their prospects of reaching the knockouts.
And in a bizarre sequence of events, the attacker launched the ball into the face of Socceroos star Mitch Duke as he was lying on the ground, resulting in players squaring up to one another.
But Duke had the last laugh, heading home the winner to hand Australia their first World Cup win in 12 years.