Substitutes Cheikhou Kouyaté and Ismaïla Sarr made decisive contributions as Senegal beat Equatorial Guinea 3-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Crystal Palace midfielder Kouyaté had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he capitalised on some woeful defending to restore Senegal’s lead after Jannick Buyla had cancelled out Famara Diedhiou’s opener.
And Sarr then finished off a superb move 11 minutes from time as he made his first appearance for club or country since scoring in Watford’s 4-1 win over Manchester United on 20 November.
Sadio Mané completed 90 minutes despite the worrying head injury he suffered during the last-16 tie against Cape Verde and the Liverpool forward set up the opening goal with a pinpoint pass to Diedhiou, allowing the Alanyaspor striker to fire home at the near post.
Equatorial Guinea were awarded a penalty early in the second half when Iban Edu flicked the ball on to the hand of Kalidou Koulibaly, only for the referee to be told by VAR to look at the pitchside monitor before reversing his decision.
Perhaps fuelled by a sense of injustice, the underdogs – who beat the holders Algeria in the group stage – continued to push forward and deservedly equalised after 57 minutes, Buyla firing home with the outside of his right foot after being played in by Pablo Ganet’s sublime reverse pass.
However, Senegal edged back in front 10 minutes later when Equatorial Guinea failed to clear a corner, two defenders went for the same ball and Akapo Martinez succeeded only in heading it backwards for Kouyaté to nip in front of the goalkeeper and prod home.
And fellow substitute Sarr put the result beyond doubt when he side-footed into an empty net from Saliou Ciss’s low cross following a brilliant crossfield pass from Koulibaly.
Senegal will face their west African near-neighbours Burkina Faso in the last four.
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