Mané caps 3-1 win to send Senegal into African Cup final

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP):

Sadio Mané set up one goal and scored the last one himself as Senegal beat Burkina Faso 3-1 yesterday to reach their second successive African Cup of Nations final.

Now, Senegal hope to finally win a title.

Mané scored on a breakaway in the 87th minute to seal the win in Yaounde after Senegal went 2-0 up before seeing Burkina Faso pull a goal back with eight minutes to go.

Senegal will play for the African title against either Egypt or host Cameroon, who meet in the second semi-final today.

The Senegal-Burkina Faso semi burst into life at the end of the game, with all four goals coming in the last 20 minutes.

Defender Abdou Diallo pounced at a corner to give Senegal the lead in the 70th. Bamba Dieng made it 2-0 in the 76th when Mané put a cross on a plate for him to score.

Blati Touré briefly gave Burkina Faso hope when he forced a cross in with his knee in the 82nd.

But Mané snapped up a chance on a counter-attack as he sped clear of the Burkinabe defence and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Farid Ouédraogo.

Meanwhile, Egypt filed a complaint with the African soccer confederation against the appointment of a Gambian referee for the Pharaohs’ game against Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals.

The Egyptian Football Association did not give reasons for its complaint against Bakary Gassama, one of Africa’s best-known referees. He refereed the Pharaohs’ 1-0 loss to Nigeria in the group stage.

The 42-year-old Gassama is known to Egyptian fans for having refereed the Pharaohs’ 2-1 victory over Congo in October 2017, which qualified Egypt for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It was the first time in nearly three decades that they qualified for the tournament.

Egypt, who have won the African Cup a record seven times, filed their complaint late on Tuesday. Representatives of the Egyptian Football Association and the Confederation of African Football were not immediately available to comment.