Moussa Niakhate’s missed penalty proved expensive as defending champions Senegal had been eradicated from the Africa Cup of Nations in an exciting 5-4 defeat to the host nation Ivory Coast in a dramatic penalty shootout.
The match, which led to a 1-1 draw, befell on the Charles Konan Banny Stadium of their last-16 encounter on Monday.
Senegal began strongly, securing an early lead inside 4 minutes.
Sadio Mane delivered a cross from the left, which was met by Habib Diallo, who managed the ball together with his chest earlier than unleashing a strong shot from 10 yards that discovered the highest nook of the web.
Mane was lucky to not obtain a pink card shortly after that following a poor problem, however Senegal couldn’t add to their lead and paid the value when the Ivorians had been awarded a transparent penalty and equalized by means of Franck Kessie 4 minutes from the tip of the 90 minutes.
Ivory Coast will now face the winner of Tuesday’s last-16 tie between Mali and Burkina Faso within the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Ivorians had been in disarray simply days in the past. Hammered 4-0 in a document loss on dwelling soil by Equatorial Guinea, they had been on the verge of elimination and sacked coach Jean-Louis Gasset, changing him with assistant Emerse Fae.
But a fortuitous set of outcomes elsewhere noticed them squeeze into the last-16, they usually put up a much-improved show towards a Senegal aspect that had gained all three of their pool matches with relative ease.
“It’s very emotional; the last few days were tough for us,” Ivory Coast striker Sebastien Haller mentioned. “We have opened the door and given ourselves a chance. We can forget now about what happened in the group stages.”
The hosts had been the higher aspect on the night time and may need wrapped issues up earlier than the necessity for penalties, however will merely be relieved to struggle one other day having prevented an embarrassing early exit from their event.
Leading 1-0, Senegal thought they need to have had a penalty within the second half when Ismaila Sarr went down within the field, however the match officers determined there was not sufficient contact to ship him sprawling, a lot to the annoyance of coach Aliou Cisse. Mane additionally fired large when he ought to have scored.
The Ivorians might have been stage when Nicolas Pepe had a transparent shot at purpose however couldn’t beat Edouard Mendy earlier than they had been awarded a transparent spot-kick on VAR evaluate as the previous was clattered within the field by the latter, and Kessie buried his kick.
The recreation went to penalties, and the unlucky Niakhate missed his aspect’s third kick as he struck the put up, and the Ivorians held their nerve to safe a spot within the quarterfinals.
Source: www.dailysabah.com