Lassine Sinayoko stroked residence a second-half penalty as Mali held on to frustrate Africa Cup of Nations hosts Morocco in Rabat tonight.
Brahim Diaz’s controversial opener, additionally from the spot, put Walid Regragui’s males in entrance on the break however Mali’s dogged strategy reaped its rewards when Sinayoko slotted previous Yassine Bounou to safe his facet their second successive 1-1 draw.
Morocco, who had been cheered on by Actual Madrid and France celebrity Kylian Mbappe, stay prime of Group A with 4 factors from two video games and are just about assured of a spot within the knockout levels however they did little to justify their tag as event favourites.
Actual Madrid midfielder Diaz was a relaxing presence in a frantic encounter and he curled a free-kick over the bar after simply 4 minutes. He had one other nice probability shortly after the quarter-hour mark however noticed his low shot beautifully saved by Djigui Diarra.
Ayoub El Kaabi nodded over after 43 minutes and it appeared possible Morocco’s dominance would go unrewarded earlier than the break. However after Diaz escaped down the correct, he was partially halted by the stumbling Nathan Gassama. Within the act of making an attempt to maintain his toes, Gassama was adjudged to have dealt with and referee Abdou Abdel Mefire pointed to the spot.
It appeared extraordinarily harsh however Diaz confirmed no mercy, confidently slotting the spot-kick into the underside left-hand nook.
Mali hit again
Mali levelled 13 minutes into the second interval. Sinayoko burst by means of the guts of the Morocco defence solely to be chopped down by Nayef Aguerd. Mystifyingly, Mefire waved play on solely to vary his thoughts when he considered the incident once more on the pitchside monitor.
Sinayoko scored, firing his shot beneath Bono, as Morocco conceded their first aim in 918 minutes.
Skilled striker Youssef En-Nesryi was despatched on to offer some extra physicality to the Morocco assault and it virtually labored when he muscled his means right into a capturing place however his low shot was beautifully blocked by Diarra.
Mali survived yet another scare and this one was self-inflicted.
With the ten minutes of added on time virtually up, Woyo Coulibaly tried a dangerous again header below little stress, forcing Diarra into an excellent one-handed cease low to his proper.
