Football News: Ivory Coast Stun Mali in Dramatic Extra-Time Comeback at Africa Cup of Nations 2024

In a captivating Africa Cup of Nations 2024 quarter-final match, Ivory Coast produced an astonishing extra-time comeback to defeat Mali 2-1 on Saturday evening.

The hosts, Mali, had managed to edge past Senegal in the first-round knockout on penalties, while Ivory Coast overcame Burkina Faso 2-1 in their previous fixture.

The match was marked by a chaotic first half, with Sikou Niakate’s penalty appeal for handball being denied due to an offside position, before Odilon Kossounou conceded a spot-kick for a foul on Lassine Sinayoko, only for Adama Traore to miss the resulting penalty.

Just before the break, Sinayoko’s foul on Kossounou saw the Ivory Coast defender receive a red card, leaving his team a man down. As the weakened Ivorian side tired, Nene found space to fire in a brilliant strike from 30 yards out to give Mali the lead.

“The determination and resilience displayed by the team has been truly remarkable.”

However, with the game nearing its end, substitute Simon Adingra prodded home an injury-time equaliser to send the match into extra time. Despite efforts from Ivory Coast’s Sebastien Haller, who hit the crossbar with a header, the deadlock remained unbroken in the additional period.

In a dramatic finish, Oumar Diakite scored the winner for Ivory Coast in added time of extra time, completing a remarkable comeback. Diakite was later sent off in a frantic ending to the match.

This result means that Ivory Coast have progressed to the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations 2024, despite the chaotic nature of their campaign so far, which saw them sack their manager during the group stage.

Oumar Diakite was named the player of the match, despite his late red card, as his match-winning goal proved to be the decisive moment in this enthralling quarter-final encounter.

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