Africa Cup of Nations 2023: Guinea into quarter-finals with late winner after 10-man Equatorial Guinea miss penalty

A stoppage-time header from Mohamed Bayo guided Guinea into the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations courtesy of a 1-0 win over Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea, who had lit up the tournament in the group stages, were left to rue a red card and missed penalty at 0-0 as they failed to make the last eight for the first time in four tournament appearances in their history.

Guinea will face the winner of Egypt's clash with DR Congo.

A game of few chances failed to ignite in a tepid first half but sprang to life 10 minutes after the break.

As Bayo was challenging for the ball in midfield, Equatorial Guinea midfielder Federico Bikoro inexplicably planted his studs in his opponent’s chest after an unnecessary high tackle.

This left referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan little option but to produce the red card, leaving Equatorial Guinea a man down for the remainder of the match.

Undeterred, Equatorial Guinea pressed for the opening goal and were gifted a golden opportunity when the referee and VAR deemed that Iban Salvador had been illegally felled in the penalty area by Guinea’s Sekou Sylla.

However, the scoreboard remained untroubled as the tournament’s top scorer Emilio Nsue struck the post with his effort from 12 yards to the astonishment of his team-mates.

Guinea, who had the better of the chances in the game, were duly rewarded in the final minute of added time when Bayo beat his defender to get his head to Ibrahim Diakite’s right wing cross and steer the ball beyond goalkeeper Jesus Owono.

With no time left on the clock to respond, Equatorial Guinea exit the competition while Guinea advance to the quarter finals for the first time since 2015.

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