Despite being reduced to 10 men, Ivory Coast fought valiantly after falling behind to a goal by Nene Dorgeles, only for Simon Adingra to equalize in the 90th minute.

The result marks a significant turnaround for Ivory Coast, who endured a challenging AFCON campaign, narrowly advancing to the knockout stage after a tough loss to Equatorial Guinea. Mali, despite dominating for much of the match and missing a penalty, suffered a heartbreaking defeat, ending their record of never losing a Cup of Nations quarter-final.

Ivory Coast will now face the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals on Wednesday, although Diakite will be unavailable due to his second yellow card for celebrating his winning goal. This encounter between the two nations marks their sixth meeting in the AFCON, with Ivory Coast emerging victorious in four previous encounters.

The match saw Ivory Coast caretaker coach Emerse Fae making strategic lineup changes, while Mali made one enforced change to their starting lineup. Despite the majority of the crowd supporting the host nation, Mali established early dominance and had several scoring opportunities, including a penalty that was saved by the Ivory Coast goalkeeper.

The match took a dramatic turn when Ivory Coast’s Kossounou was sent off, but they held on, with Mali breaking the deadlock in the second half. However, Ivory Coast rallied back with Adingra’s equalizer, sending the match into extra time, where substitute Sebastien Haller’s header hit the crossbar.

As Ivory Coast celebrates their hard-fought victory, the AFCON quarter-finals continue with Cape Verde facing South Africa, with the winners set to challenge Nigeria in the next stage of the tournament.