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Ivory Coast send champions Senegal crashing out

Defending champions Senegal bowed out of the Africa Cup of Nations after losing to Cote d'Ivoire via the penalty shoot-out on Monday night.

The Lions of Teranga qualified for the last 16 with a perfect winning record at the top of Group C and they retained their attacking trio of Sadio Mane, Ismaila Sarr and Habib Diallo.

Hosts the Elephants, who qualified as one of the best third-placed teams, were under the caretaker charge of Emerse Fae after they relieved Jean-Louis Gasset of his duties, following an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in their final pool game.

Senegal had a perfect start after Diallo fired them ahead on four minutes with a powerful left-footed shot in the box after a through ball by Mane.

Aliou Cisse's charges dropped deep in their own half after that, as Ivory Coast held more of the ball, looking for a way back into the game.

Senegal frustrated Ivory Coast for the better part of the first stanza and Fae's troops only found an opening towards the interval after Seko Fofane forced a save out of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Senegal had another bright start in the second stanza, as Diallo almost doubled their lead two minutes from the break with a strike that was kept out of the bottom corner by shot-stopper Yahia Fofana.

Cote d'Ivoire continued to struggle to break down Senegal and with 25 minutes to go, Fae eventually brought on Nicolas Pepe in place of Oumar Diakite.

The Elephants went all out with 15 minutes to go, as previously injured Sebastien Haller was handed his first appearance of the tournament in place of Jean-Philippe Krasso.

Haller's presence was a threat immediately from Ivory Coast's set-piece, as Lamine Camara missed a big chance from a rebound a rebound at the near post.

The game opened up as Senegal were also looking to kill the game and Pepe had a big chance to equalise for the Elephants moments later after going through on goal but his volley was thwarted brilliantly by Mendy.

Ivory Coast's pressure finally paid off in the last five minutes after they were awarded a penalty following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review after Mendy brought down Pepe in the box.

Franck Kessie stepped up and made no mistake, as he levelled matters for the Elephants with a confident kick past the dive of Mendy.

The game was there for the taking in extra-time as Mane had a chance for Senegal on the stroke of half-time of extra-time with a strike in the box that was saved by Fofana in the bottom corner.

The sides eventually went to penalty a shoot-out, where the Elephants won 5-4 after Moussa Niakhate had a strike that came off the post and Kessie scored the winning spot-kick for the hosts, who will come up against the winner between Mali and Burkina Faso in the quarter-finals.

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