The referee used physical force. The AFCON match ended in a big scandal

Mali and Ivory Coast met in the third quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations. The Ivorians were left with ten men in the first half: Odilon Kossounu was sent off for a second yellow card. However, this did not prevent his team from progressing to the next round.

First, Ivory Coast took the game into overtime thanks to a goal in the 90th minute. And on 120+2 minutes, the AFCON hosts snatched the victory thanks to a long-range strike by Oumar Diakite.

As soon as the referee blew the final whistle, Mali players began to aggressively appeal to Egyptian referee Mohamed Adel, who even had to use physical force against the players of the losing team.

Adel showed Hamari Traore a red card for his aggressive behaviour - the Real Sociedad Mali defender had to be pulled away by almost the entire team.

The referee, so that no one else would attack him, did not leave the field by himself. First he was accompanied by a representative of the Mali national team, and then AFCON officials and stewards.

Note that in addition to the removal of a player in Ivory Coast, Mali also had a penalty in the first half. However, Adama Traore failed to convert it.