At 0:00 Beijing time on January 21, the final round of the African Cup of Nations Group E was held, with Algeria against Côte d'Ivoire. In the first half, Casey and Sangaray scored two goals in a row; in the second half Nicolas Pepe extended the advantage, Mahrez did not score a penalty, Bendbuca scored a goal, Algeria suffered a 1-3 defeat, and the defending champions were out of the game.
In the 23rd minute, Nicolas Pepe's cross from the right side of the penalty area was met by a follow-up Casey who pushed the ball to make it 1-0.
In the 40th minute, Oriye sent a precise cross, Sangaray rushed to the horse, jumped high to head the next city, 0-2!
In the 53rd minute, Alai picked out a pass on the counter-attack, Nicolas Pepe rubbed his left foot into the dead corner inside the penalty area, completed the pass and made a good pass, Côte d'Ivoire scored another goal, 0-3!
In the 58th minute, Bellelli forced a penalty inside the penalty area, but Mahrez hit the goal frame and Algeria missed the opportunity. In the 73rd minute, algerian corner kick attack, Mandy crossed in front of goal, Benderbucca relayed the header to win back a city, 1-3!
It took 253 minutes for Algeria to score the first goal of the African Cup of Nations, but it was too late. In the 77th minute, Nicolas Pepe was offside, rendering Casey's goal invalid.
In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Alai scored another goal, but also because the offside was blown off first, and finally Algeria lost 3-1, failing to achieve a miracle.
Algeria are the defending champions of the Africa Cup of Nations, and before the tournament began, they were the second favourite after Senegal. However, Algeria was very hot, and the first two rounds were successively upset by Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, and 1 draw and 1 loss fell into a desperate situation. In the life-and-death battle, Algeria was beaten by the top team, Côte d'Ivoire.
In the last round, Algeria went unbeaten in 35 consecutive A-class matches, and this one ushered in two consecutive defeats. Since the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, the group stage has not won three consecutive games. It is also another defending champion after Cameroon in 1990 who lost two group stages, replicating 32 years of humiliation. Côte d'Ivoire beat Algeria against The Africa Cup of Nations after six years, and they locked in the first place in the group to advance to the round of 16.
As the saying goes, some people are happy and some are sad, for Algeria, the result of the exit is difficult to accept, but it is good news for the giants in Europe. Mahrez is about to return to Manchester City, Benahma will also return to West Ham United to help the team fight for the fourth place, and Guardiola and Moyes will probably smile.
In addition, Benacell will return to AC Milan and even catch up with the key battle with Juve for the title. However, with the promotion of Ivory Coast, it means that Casey cannot return for the time being, which is still a hidden worry for AC Milan.