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 method reaped its rewards when Sinayoko slotted previous Yassine Bounou to safe his facet their second successive 1-1 draw.
Morocco, who have been cheered on by Actual Madrid and France celebrity Kylian Mbappe, stay high 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 likelihood shortly after the quarter-hour mark however noticed his low shot fantastically saved by Djigui Diarra.
Ayoub El Kaabi nodded over after 43 minutes and it appeared doubtless Morocco’s dominance would go unrewarded earlier than the break. However after Diaz escaped down the appropriate, he was partially halted by the stumbling Nathan Gassama. Within the act of attempting to maintain his ft, 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 via the guts of the Morocco defence solely to be chopped down by Nayef Aguerd. Mystifyingly, Mefire waved play on solely to alter his thoughts when he seen the incident once more on the pitchside monitor.
Sinayoko scored, firing his shot beneath Bono, as Morocco conceded their first purpose in 918 minutes.
Skilled striker Youssef En-Nesryi was despatched on to offer some extra physicality to the Morocco assault and it nearly labored when he muscled his manner right into a capturing place however his low shot was fantastically blocked by Diarra.
Mali survived yet another scare and this one was self-inflicted.
With the ten minutes of added on time nearly up, Woyo Coulibaly tried a dangerous again header beneath little stress, forcing Diarra into a superb one-handed cease low to his proper.
