16th January, 2022
Minor Equatorial Guinea have created a big upset at AFCON as they shocked the defending champions, Algeria 1-0, ending their 35-game unbeaten run.
Algeria are now on the verge of crashing out of AFCON except they beat Ivory Coast in their last match.
Esteban Obiang was the hero of the day, scoring a great goal on 70 minutes to silent the Algerians.
Obiang received a delightful pass inside the box and smashed a low shot into the bottom right corner for a clinical finish.
Algeria dominated play but they could not break the resilience of the Equatorial Guineans, as they created AFCON’s biggest upset.
Earlier on37 minutes, Pablo Ganet tried his luck from a long-range free kick and the ball was aimed to the bottom right corner, but Rais M’Bolhi was alert and thwarted the effort.
Three minutes later, Iban Salvador got a chance to put Equatorial Guinea in front, as he produced a stunning snap shot from the edge of the box. The goalkeeper was a bit lucky as the ball went just wide of the right post.
On first half added time, Riyad Mahrez perfectly won the ball from the free kick, but his effort from the edge of the penalty area was not accurate enough and the ball went a few inches over the bar.