Africa Cup: Ramy Bensebaini reaches quarter-finals with Algeria | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund will definitely have to do without Ramy Bensebaini for their first competitive match of the new year on Friday at Eintracht Frankfurt. The center-back and left-back reached the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday evening with a hard-fought victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the next match not scheduled until Saturday.

After a perfect group stage with three wins, Algeria entered the round of 16 as favorites, but had more trouble with DR Congo than many expected. After a goalless 90 minutes, it looked like a penalty shootout in Rabat, when Adil Boulbina scored the golden goal in the 119th minute to secure a 1-0 victory for the Desert Foxes.

Bensebaini with a short treatment break

Bensebaini, who was given a creative break in the last and already meaningless group match against Equatorial Guinea (3-1), once again formed an experienced central defense partnership with Aissa Mandi. In this formation, Algeria kept a clean sheet for the third time after victories over Sudan (3-0) and Burkina Faso (1-0). However, at one point Algeria’s coach Vladimir Petkovic had to worry about Bensebaini, who was accidentally hit on the head by his own goalkeeper Luca Zidane in the 58th minute, but was able to continue playing after a short treatment.

The Algerian team and Bensebaini will continue on Saturday against Nigeria. Should they not prevail against Victor Osimhen and company, a timely return for the Bundesliga match on Tuesday against Werder Bremen would at least be theoretically possible.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.