Kessié brings Ivory Coast back to life as Afcon hosts bury Senegal

30/01/2024 01:21

A week ago, Ivory Coast were on the end of a 4-0 battering from Equatorial Guinea. Now they are in the last eight of the Africa Cup of Nations having eliminated the champions. They are a team that has repeatedly seemed dead and buried since the tournament began – never more so than when a goal behind with four minutes remaining on Monday – and yet somehow Sébastien Haller's zombie army marches on to a quarter-final against Mali or Burkina Faso.

Senegal, having been the best side in the group stage, had seemed in control until the introduction of Haller in the 72nd minute. This had seemed like a classic case of scoring an early goal and then holding the opponent at arm's length to see the game out. It was not, and so the curse goes on: no defending champion has made it to the quarter-finals of the Cup of Nations since Egypt in 2010.