Cameroon through to semi-finals after Senegal’s Sadio Mané misses penalty

Cameroon knocked the favourites Senegal out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a penalty shootout victory to book their place in the semi-finals.

After a goalless 120 minutes at the Stade de Franceville, Sadio Mané proved the fall guy and the Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph Ondoa the hero as he saved the Liverpool winger’s spot-kick.

In scenes reminiscent of Cameroon’s 2002 final victory in this tournament over the same opponents, Vincent Aboubakar then made no mistake with his penalty to seal the deal 5-4.

Senegal made the running from the outset but exited with nothing to show, while the four-times champions Cameroon go on to face one of DR Congo or Ghana next in the semi finals.

Before the half-hour, Mané put Mame Diouf through – but the Stoke striker was closed down by the busy Ondoa and put the ball over the crossbar. Abdoulaye Diallo was seeing precious little action in the Senegal goal but had to be alert at his near post when Benjamin Moukandjo had a breakaway half-chance from close range in the 36th minute.

Ondoa reacted well early in the second half to keep out Mané’s header and did enough to stop Keita Baldé Diao’s follow-up challenge almost on the goalline.

Cameroon very nearly took a surprise lead in the 66th minute when the ball broke to Moukandjo in the penalty area before Diallo dived low to his right to stop his effort across goal.

Mané and substitute Moussa Sow both had good opportunities as Senegal pressed for a late winner, but – when needed – Ondoa proved too good.

In extra time it was again Diallo who kept the scores level, moving smartly to stop substitute Jacques Zoua scoring from six yards after combining well with Aboubakar.

In the end, though, Senegal were thwarted.

Earlier, the substitute Aristide Bancé struck with an 81st-minute free-kick to help Burkina Faso into the semi-finals with a 2-0 victory against Tunisia.

Bancé’s right-foot shot into the bottom corner, from a set piece awarded after Syam Ben Youssef’s handball, put Burkina Faso on course for a 2-0 win in Libreville to go through to face Egypt or Morocco.

Bancé almost made it 2-0 in Burkina Faso’s next attack but hit the post this time, and instead it fell to Prejuce Nakoulma to settle the match in the 84th minute after being left in the clear on the counterattack.

The first clear-cut chance of a tight match had fallen to Nakoulma just before the quarter-hour when he was put through by Bertrand Traoré but he blazed his right-foot shot over. Seven minutes later, Traoré’s deft left-foot shot grazed the bar on its way over.

Tunisia might easily have conceded a penalty before the half-hour, but Hamdi Naguez’s blatant shirt-tugging in the box was not spotted by the referee.

Tunisia’s best chances came in quick succession soon afterwards. Mohamed Ben Amor had room to shoot when a free-kick was worked back to him, but he curled his right-foot effort wide, and then Mohamed Ali Yacoubi could not quite get on the end of a flick header from a corner.

Just after the hour, Bakary Koné got on the end of Charles Kaboré’s deep free-kick only to head over the Tunisia bar, but Bancé’s arrival heralded a telling change of fortune for Burkina Faso.