Senegal beat a brave Burkina Faso 3-1 at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde on Wednesday night to book a place in the final of the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations.
Goals from Abdou Diallo, Bamba Dieng and Sadio Mane saw the Teranga Lions secure a second successive AFCON final and give them a chance to atone for losing the 2019 championship game to Algeria.
The Stallions, whose fine tournament should not be forgotten, lacked the class and firepower to match their heavyweight opponents.
Burkina Faso suffered a major injury blow after the half hour mark when goalkeeper Herve Koffi was hit hard in an aerial collision with Kouyate and forced off the pitch on a stretcher. Farid Ouedraogo replaced him in the 35th minute.
Senegal had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down on 42 minutes when Sadio Mane appeared to have been in the box, but the match officials waved their request away.
The action-packed half ended with yet more drama as the referee initially awarded a penalty to Senegal for a hand-ball inside the area but was overturned by the VAR.
Chances were much harder to come by in the second half, but Senegal kept up the pressure and were finally rewarded on 70 minutes.
Ironically, for all their attacking talent, it was a combination of their central defenders which brought the goal. A corner kick rebounded in the Burkina Faso box and saw Kalidou Koulibaly attempt an overhead kick – his effort was controlled by partner Abdou Diallo, who then swept home a low shot to break the deadlock.
Six minutes later the Teranga Lions doubled their advantage. Mane did great work to steal the ball on the byline before pulling it back for Dieng to slide home an effort – though it was not clear from the replays whether it was in fact Idrissa Gueye who got the final touch.
The Stallions did not give up and pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute, with Blati Toure providing an unorthodox but effective finish off his knee as he met Kabore’s cross from the right and steered an effort past the left hand of Mendy.
A stunning comeback looked to be on the cards, but Senegal fully capitalised on the Burkinabe throwing men forward in the dying minutes and wrapped up the game with a swift counter attack which was beautifully finished off by a chip past the goalkeeper from Mane to seal a 3-1 triumph.
The second semifinal sees Cameroon face Egypt on Thursday night, with the winners advancing to face Senegal in the final at the Olembe Stadium in Yaounde on Sunday, 6th February.
COURTESY