Diomande nets to fire Ivory Coast through to AFCON quarter final

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RB Leipzig

·7 January 2026

Diomande nets to fire Ivory Coast through to AFCON quarter final

The quest to defend their title will go one step further for Ivory Coast, as Yan Diomande and co. ran out triumphant in an Africa Cup of Nations round-of-16 tie against Burkina Faso. Our dynamo played a starring role in the comfortable 3-0 win, and managed to celebrate a moment that will stick in his memory for years to come.

Yan nets his first goal at the Africa Cup of Nations

It was Manchester United's Amad Diallo Traoré who put Ivory Coast ahead in the 20th minute to kick off the scoring in the knockout victory. Yan also had a hand in this opener: not only did he play the ball forward in the lead up to the goal, he then blocked some of his opponents from intercepting Amad on his run towards goal.

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The real highlight came just twelve minutes later. After a ball across the box from the goalscorer, Yan slotted the ball home with an accurate side-footed effort into the bottom-left corner to double Ivory Coast's lead. The goal didn't just mark the side's second of the game, but also Yan's first successful strike of the tournament so far, with jubilant celebrations erupting afterwards as would be expected. Yan raised a triumphant fist in the direction of the fans.

Yan's time on the pitch came to an early end in the 75th minute as he was substituted off for TSG Hoffenheim's Bazoumana Touré, who went on to truly seal the win with an 87th-minute strike for the 3-0.

Record champions await in quarter final

The celebrations in the Ivory Coast camp will soon turn straight to concentration on their quarter-final tie, however, as they gear up for a clash with record champions Egypt (seven titles) on Saturday (kick-off at 20:00 CET), a side with frightening quality in the forward department in particular. A double-headed attack of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and ex-Eintracht Frankfurt ace Omar Marmoush, who has been playing his football at Manchester City for almost a year now, makes an absolute box-office affair almost guaranteed at this point.