Nigeria vs Ivory Coast live updates: Africa Cup of Nations final result reaction after Haller seals comeback win

It is the moment Sebastien Haller would have been dreaming about 18 months ago, when he was in hospital receiving treatment to remove a testicular tumour. In the 81st minute, the 29-year-old poked home Simon Adingra’s cross and sent the Alassane Ouattara Stadium wild.

Haller nearly missed out on this competition due to an ankle injury. He flew out to Ivory Coast a couple of weeks before the rest of the squad linked up to work on his fitness. The forward missed all of their group-stage games and made his return as a substitute in the last 16 against Senegal.

Yet Haller can still make a strong claim for being the most influential player at this tournament. Ivory Coast’s game plan against Nigeria was centred around launching the ball into the box as much as possible for him to attack.

Nigeria had to learn a lesson from the first half and cut the danger out at source. They never did and you can only give Haller so many opportunities before he will punish you.

Nigeria came into this year’s AFCON boasting an array of attacking talents, but their triumph came down to defensive resilience, with the Super Eagles conceding just twice on their way to the final.

Key to this was Troost-Ekong, who as well as being a rock at the back, finishes the tournament with two more goals than Victor Osimhen, the reigning African Footballer of the Year, and the same number as Nigeria’s other attacking star Ademola Lookman.

Overall, Troost-Ekong has scored five goals at the Africa Cup of Nations, the most by a centre-back in history. Unfortunately for Troost-Ekong and Nigeria though, they couldn’t quite get over the line.

Their supporters have taken to calling Ivory Coast “les Revenants” — the Zombies. The host country came back from the dead this tournament — repeatedly. On the brink of a humiliating group-stage exit, they sacked coach Jean-Louis Gasset after their final first-round game.

Two days earlier, they had lost 4-0 to minnows Equatorial Guinea. Replacement Emerse Fae had never managed a senior game before, at any level — yet here he was, parachuted into the most high-pressure job on the continent.

Nigeria had not lost a game in which they took the lead in their last 19 matches — but Franck Kessie’s header brought Ivory Coast back to parity after 62 minutes.

Striker Sebastien Haller had returned to the pitch last year after his cancer diagnosis with boots reading “F**k Cancer”. Now, with that same right foot, he delivered AFCON glory. Ivory Coast, the Zombies, back from the dead.

Victor Osimhen is a human cyclone. If you are a defender, you cannot avoid him. His arms and legs are after you. He will come at you with his head. Yet any striker is often only as effective as the service he receives.

Osimhen had to fight to create his own chances, with Nigeria’s fast wide players feeding off his effort. It ultimately led to him scoring just one goal but without Osimhen’s courage and running, Nigeria would never have made it to the final.

This was a brutal game of football played at the end of the hottest day of the tournament. This did not stop Osimhen. Neither did the scraps he was working with, or the injuries he was suffering from.

It was agonising watching him trying to complete the match when it was in his own interests as well as the team’s for him to leave the pitch.

There is no better way to make yourself an instant national hero than a match-winning performance in the final of a major tournament.

That is exactly what Simon Adingra has done in that final. He was absolutely sublime throughout the match and I'm sure Ola Aina will be having nightmares about him for the next few weeks and months.

The Brighton winger gave him a torrid time and, on top of beating Aina every time he had the ball, his quality brought the two goals.

His pinpoint corner was headed in by Kessie in the 62nd minute and it was Adingra's cross that Haller flicked into the top corner 19 minutes later.

Jean Michael Seri deserves a special mention as he was superb in midfield, but he is edged out for the Player of the Match award by Adingra.

For me, the most stark observation from that game was the complete lack of a midfield presence from Nigeria.

It might have been a different story had Wilfred Ndidi, one of the first names on the teamsheet when fit, been available. But an injury suffered on December 29 ruled him out of AFCON.

Likewise, Victor Boniface and Taiwo Awoniyi, two strikers who have been in excellent form for Bayer Leverkusen and Nottingham Forest respectively.

While they may not have started ahead of Osimhen, it would allowed Peseiro the chance to rotate the Napoli striker who was a mile off his best throughout the tournament.

Starters

• Stanley Nwabali: 6 – Made a couple of great saves but poor positioning allowed Kessie to equalise
• Semi Ajayi: 6 – Defended well but failed to provide Aina with adequate support
• William Troost-Ekong: 7 – A brilliant header to give Nigeria the lead, but beaten to ball by Haller for the winner
• Calvin Bassey: 6 – Struggled in the first half but improved massively in the second
• Ola Aina: 4 – Had a torrid time against Adingra, couldn’t live with him at all
• Frank Onyeka: 5 – Failed to exert any control on the game
• Alex Iwobi: 5 – Like Onyeka, he was far too absent for a game of this magnitude
• Zaidu Sanusi: 4 – Another really poor performance
• Samuel Chukwueze: 4 – Had no impact on the game before being substituted on 56’
• Victor Osimhen: 5 – Cut a frustrated figure with no service from his team-mates
• Ademola Lookman: 5 – A disappointing game that he was not able to positively affect

Substitutes

• Moses Simon: 5 – Struggled to have an impact
• Kelechi Iheanacho: 6 – Battled well but couldn’t unlock the defence
• Alhassan Yusuf: 5 – Was a passenger for much of his 20 minutes on the pitch
• Joe Aribo: N/A
• Terem Moffi: N/A

Starters

• Yahia Fofana: 6 – Could not stop the goal and had little else to do
• Serge Aurier: 6 – Defended well but substituted on a yellow card
• Odilon Kossounou: 8 — A great defensive performance and even contributed offensively
• Evan N’Dicka: 8 – Worked brilliantly with Kossounou to keep Osimhen out of the game
• Ghislain Konan : 7 – Locked off Chukwueze and Simon with relative ease
• Jean Michael Seri: 9 – Protected his defenc immaculately and ran the game from midfield
• Franck Kessie: 8 – Dominated the Nigeria midfield and headed in the equaliser
• Seko Fofana: 6 – Tidy performance but not quite at his domineering best
• Maxi Gradel: 5 – Struggled to affect the game and rarely trouble Sanusi or Bassey
• Sebastian Haller: 8 – Linked up effectively and scored a sublime winning goal
• Simon Adingra: 9 – The best player on the pitch, terrorised Aina all game and assisted both goals

Substitutes

• Wilfried Singo: 6 – Replaced Aurier and defended well
• Oumar Diakite: 5 – Looked sharp on occasion but didn’t affect the game
• Ibrahim Sangare: N/A
• Jean-Philippe Krasso: N/A
• Jean Thierry Lazare: N/A

Here's exactly how the 2023 AFCON knockout stage happened.

Thanks to super Will Jeanes for this brilliant graphic.

Well, that's still Egypt with seven titles, followed by Cameroon and Ghana with five and four, respectively.

But today's triumph lifts Ivory Coast to level with Nigeria with three tournaments wins.

A historic achievement.

Max Gradel receives the trophy from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara and CAF president Patrice Motsepe, and lifts it to the sky as fireworks set off!

The home supporters applaud their heroes as they make their way through the guard of honour and up to the stage to receive their winners medals.

The referees get their medals, before South Africa join them on the stage to receive their bronze medals after beating DR Congo yesterday.

Probably not fans of Birmingham City and Middlesbrough, where he scored a combined four goals in 118 matches in all competitions from 2014 to 2018, mainly playing as a right-back or right midfielder.

He scored five in four games at this tournament!

Incredible stuff from the 34-year-old.