DEFENDING champions and tournament favourites Senegal were knocked out by Ivory Coast last night on penalties in the round of sixteen.
Senegal breezed through the group stage and were matched up with Ivory Coast who although were the host nation of this tournament barely managed to get through to the knockout rounds themselves.
Ivory Coast had lost their last group game 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea and only went through to the knockouts as one of the better third place teams.
Therefore, Senegal went into the match against the host nation as heavy favourites.
Senegal took the lead early on with a lovely finish by Habib Diallo.
The Senegalese would fail to build on their early momentum with Sadio Mane missing a very good chance in the second half of the match.
Not extending the lead would come back to bite Mane and his team mates as Ivory Coast brought it back level late on.
Senegal Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy chopped down Nicolas Pepe which would eventually through VAR result in a penalty and Frank Kessie would make no mistake from the spot.
The Ivory Coast would continue this penalty success in the eventual penalty shootout in which they would make all five of the penalties.
Senegal would not be as clinical and missed one of their five penalties which would have them crashing out of the tournament.
Due to Senegal going out of the tournament earlier than expected several Premier League Clubs will be able to get players back from the Senegalese National Team sooner.
Nicolas Jackson will return to Chelsea, Idrissa Gueye will return to Everton, and Papa Matar Sarr will return to Tottenham Hotspur just to name a few.
Ivory Coast will play the winners of Mali vs Burkina Faso in the last eight of the tournament.
