Ivory Coast vs Egypt: Salah Fires the Pharaohs to AFCON 2021 Quarter-Finals After Epic Penalty Shootout

• Ivory Coast vs Egypt last 16 AFCON encounter saw the Elephants crash out of the tournament
• The tie was decided via the shoot-outs after the tie ended in a goalless draw after regulation time
• Eric Bailly missed one of Ivory Coast's five spot-kicks to cost his side a place in the quarters

Egypt are through to the quarter-finals of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Pharaohs sealed a place in the last eight of the continental tournament after they stunned Ivory Coast 5-4 in post-match penalties during an epic round of 16 clash played on Wednesday, January 26.

Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah was Egypt's match hero as he netted the decisive spot-kick that sent his side to the quarters.

The encounter played at Japoma Stadium in Douala had to be decided via the shootouts after both teams settled for a goalless draw after regulation time.

Both teams made comfortable progress to the last 16 from their respective groups, with The Elephants topping Group E unbeaten, thanks to wins over Equatorial Guinea and Algeria.

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Egypt, meanwhile, had a shaky start to the tournament as they lost their opening fixture against Nigeria, but bounced back with solid wins over Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.

Their meeting with Ivory Coast had been touted as the final before the final - all thanks to the two team's successes in the tournament.

Perhaps just to prove how closely-contested the match was, neither side was able to find the back of the net in regulation.

An extra 30 minutes further failed to produce a winner leading to an epic penalty shootout which Egypt eventually won.

Eric Bailly, who was brilliant for Ivory Coast through the clash went from hero to zero as his missed spot-kick proved costly for his side.

Egypt scored all five of their spot-kicks, with Salah scoring the winner to help the seven-time winners set up a crunch date with Morocco.

Malawi coach alleges AFCON bias

Earlier, Sports Brief reported Malawi head coach has slammed AFCON organisers over mistreatment of the perceived smaller teams.

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Mario Marinica claimed there was clear favouritism towards the tournament's bigger teams as the minnows were being subjected to poor conditions.

The Romanian alleged his squad players were being forced to do their own laundry, which is not the case with high-profile players like Sadio Mane.