Once again in great difficulty to make the game, Senegal had to rely on a double expulsion from Cape Verde to overcome their opponent 2-0 and qualify for the quarter-finals.
This African Cup of Nations has already reserved a lot of surprises between the early elimination of Algeria or that of Nigeria against Tunisia in the round of 16. Even Cameroon had the greatest difficulty in bringing out a more than valiant team from the Comoros. Senegal was therefore warned before facing Cape Verde, especially since the start of the competition, the finalist in title is very far from his best standards. Aliou Cissé’s troops scored just one goal in the group stage and didn’t seem to be progressing in the game.
Above all, the Teranga Lions had to take revenge on themselves. The opportunity lent itself to it in this round of 16 because there was no major package to report. After only 38 seconds of play, they got themselves a superb situation. Idrissa Gueye took advantage of a poor clearance to put in the center towards Mané, whose curled shot ended on the post (1st). The match started strong but fell back immediately. Despite this first opportunity which could have set the tone, Senegal quickly fell back into their traps.
Cape Verde played nine for 35 minutes
The flat calm of this first period was nevertheless disturbed by the exclusion of Patrick Andrade in the 21st after a huge sole on Pape Gueye and a passage by the VAR. Eleven against ten, however, the Lions showed nothing and had to wait for the second act, and new facts of the game, to finally take the lead. On a long clearance from Edouard Mendy, Mané touched the ball with his head, just ahead of the exit of the Cape Verdean goalkeeper, Vózinha, who finally collided with the Liverpool striker (52nd). The two men remained on the ground for a moment, Vózinha even staggered, before in turn taking a red after long minutes (57th).
This time reduced to nine, the Blue Sharks ended up dropping their flag. Gueye (61st), Mané (62nd) and Fortès against his camp (63rd) announced the continuation because Mané finally found the opposing skylight (1-0, 63rd) on this badly returned corner, on which the referee all the same had using VAR to validate it. Liberated and with a large numerical superiority, this did not mean that Senegal managed to take shelter (Dieng, 78th), nor succeeded in mastering the elements. The former Dijonnais Tavarès was even close to equalizing. It was finally Bamba Dieng who sealed the outcome of this match at the conclusion of a counter (2-0, 90th + 3), offering a quarter to Senegal against Morocco or Malawi.
