Senegal win AFCON 2021 Champions

 

Senegal’s Teranga Lions are the champions of Africa for the first time in their history after a 4-2 penalty shootout win over Egypt in the final.

Sadio Mane was the hero after he scored the decisive goal to hand Senegal their first AFCON title.

After missing his spot-kick in regulation time, the Liverpool stars kept his calm to slot home from 12 yards to give Senegal the win the game ended 0-0 after extra time.

A dominant first half from Senegal as the Lions of Teranga showed their intentions early on in the game.

Senegal started on a bright note and had a chance to take the lead when left-back Ciss was hacked down in the box by

Sadio Mane stepped up to the plate but his decision to go for power was matched by superb goalkeeping from Gabaski who parried his effort to safety.

Mane’s poor half continued when he was presented with two good chances in 18th and 23rd minutes to make amends when Ismaila Sarr played him through but he failed to connect to the ball on both occasions.

Egypt, who hardly threatened Senegal’s defence, got their only real chance of the game very late in the half via Mohamed Salah.

Mohamed El-Neny found Salah with a lofted pass on the left, Salah does well to create a space for himself and almost caught Edouard Mendy napping but the Chelsea goalkeeper was alert to punch to safety.

An entertaining first half ended goalless as both teams couldn’t be separated at the break.

In the second half, Senegal continued from where they stopped in the first half but still couldn’t find a way past Gabaski in goal.

The 33-year-old came up clutch again in the 52nd and 55th minute as he denied Mane and Sarr with very important low saves.

Like in the first half, The Pharaohs hardly created anything tangible with just two half-chances all coming through set plays.

Mohamed Abdelmonem headed wide from a Zizo free kick in the 68th minute before Marwan Hamdy came close with another header six minutes later.

The game would go into extra time as both sides remained tied at 0-0 at the end of regular time.

It was still Senegal against Gabaski in extra time with the Egypt goalkeeper saving two outstanding chances to keep the game goalless.

A few seconds into the first half of extra time, Gabaski pulled off a superb save to deny Bamba Dieng.

10 minutes later, Dieng was denied again by the excellent goalkeeper who dived superbly to parry away a well-directed header from the Marseille man.

After 105 minutes, it’s still goalless between the Teranga Lions and Pharaohs with penalties beckoning.

Both countries had a chance apiece to seal the win in the second half of extra time but the goalkeepers came to the rescue.

First Gabaski saved from a fierce Dieng effort before Mendy finally had a job to do when Hamdy forced him into making a solid save three minutes from time.

The game ended goalless after 120 minutes and into a penalty shootout to decide the winners.

While the Pharaohs missed two of their penalties, Senegal scored four of their five attempts to win 4-2 as Gabaski’s heroics couldn’t save Egypt from another heartbreak in the final.

Senegal lifts the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time, after three times of asking, Egypt head home with the runners-up medal.