Paris Saint-Germain’s Abdou Diallo broke the deadlock for Senegal on 70 minutes with a smart turn and finish after centre-back partner Koulibaly’s bicycle kick turned an out swinging corner back towards goal. The game ended 3-1 with Gueye & Sadio Mane all in the scoresheet in the 76th and 87th minutes respectively, Toure however scored a consolation goal in the 82nd minute before Mane’s final nail on the Burkina’s coffin in an exciting game that saw Senegal dominate with a 52-48% possession relatedly to a 1-0 Malawi-Uganda game.
Senegal started the tournament somewhat sluggishly, relying on a last-gasp Sadio Mane’s penalty to see off Zimbabwe in their opening match. Two goalless draws, against Guinea and Malawi, did little to raise morale but still made sure the Lions of Teranga’s place in the last-16. Aliou Cisse’s side have come to life in the knockout stages, though, as Mane & Bamba Dieng scored in a 2-0 win against Cape Verde before a 3-1 victory against Equatorial Guinea in the quarter-finals.. They will later face Egypt in the final smackdown on Sunday.
Meanwhile despite losing, Burkina Faso have defied the odds to reach the last four of the tournaments, having bounced back from defeat in their opening group game against hosts Cameroon. Hassane Bande’s strike against Cape Verde ensured all three points before a draw in their final group game against Ethiopia was enough to secure their place in the round of 16. Kamou Malo’s side then edged a nail-biting penalty shootout against Gabon before stunning Tunisia 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
In another mouth-watering semifinal played in Olembe’s Paul Biya’s stadium a lively goalless draw saw Pharaohs boss Carlos Queiroz sent off the touchline for clashing with officials, before Cameroon missed THREE spot-kicks in the shoot-out for Egypt after a 90 mins’ goalless vigorous sports adventure.
It was a terrible heartbreak for the hosts in a fully packed stadium witnessed by the FIFA boss and CAF boss.
Eyptian goal keeper had alot of shots to save from the Cameroonian strikers throughout the 90mins.
Ugandan soccer fans and the world- over looked optimistic to watch the final showdown as Liverpool duo faced each other on this edition of the Total energies Cameroon 2021 AFCON final.