Senegal seal victory with last minute penalty

It was nervy finish to the opening Group B as the Teranga Lions waited until the final minutes of the encounter to secure maximum points

Sadio Mane scored a last-minute penalty to give Senegal a 1-0 win over Zimbabwe in their opening fixture at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Despite the positive cases of coronavirus in his squad, Aliou Cisse made changes to his starting XI as Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Seny Dieng replaced Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Olympiakos’ Pape Abou Cisse and PSG’s Abdou Diallo co-ordinated the defence in the absence of Kalidou Koulibaly. Prior to the match some had predicted a better margin victory for the 2019 edition finalists. The Sadio Mane captained team however settled for a cautious game but all the same earned three points for their effort.

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It was an end-to-end start at the Stade omnisports de Bafoussam and the two goalkeepers of both teams were called to action on several occasions and they made crucial saves to keep the game on level terms.