There was pandemonium at the Stade Charles Konan Banny Stadium as the host country knocked out the defending champion, Senegal.
A couple of days ago, Ivory Coast was on the brink of not qualifying for the round of 16.
They turned uncertainty into certainty and redeemed themselves in the championship with an outstanding display against Aliou Cisse’s team.
The curse continues; no defending champions have made it past the quarterfinals since 2010.
The enthralling tie between Senegal and Ivory Coast went into penalties as both teams could not get the winning goal in 90 minutes and extra time.
Habib Diallo’s strike four minutes after the start was canceled by Frank Kessie four minutes before the end of the game.
After a lengthy VAR check to send over 20,000 fans in the stadium to sporty ecstasy, 4.3 million football fans in Abidjan to a wild celebration.
Ivory Coast couldn’t get any reward for their enterprising play in the game afterwards, bombarding the defense line of the Senegalese with waves of chances.
After 120 minutes of football, the host and defending champion went into the dreaded penalty shootout.
Kalidou Kouilabaly, the Senegalese captain, set the tone for the penalty shootout with an excellent spot kick to send Fofana the wrong way.
Moussa Niakhate of Senegal clattered the right frame of Fofana missing from 12 yards to give the host country the edge.
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