Ten-man Mali rode their luck to beat Tunisia 3-2 on penalties and reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
El Bilal Toure netted the decisive spot-kick after Ali Abdi blazed over the bar and Eagles goalkeeper Djigui Diarra saved Tunisia’s fourth and fifth strikes from Elias Achouri and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane.
After a match containing little action until late on, the shootout was full of drama as Mali captain Yves Bissouma fired over and team-mate Nene Dorgeles hit the post with his effort.
The West Africans were a man down for more than 90 minutes after Woyo Coulibaly was shown a straight red card for catching Hannibal Mejbri on the Achilles with his studs.
Tunisia went ahead with two minutes of regulation time remaining when Firas Chaouat’s header crept inside the right-hand upright, but Mali were awarded a stoppage-time penalty after Yassine Meriah was penalised for handball.
Lassine Sinayoko’s low spot-kick had just enough on it to get past Carthage Eagles goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen, who got his hand to the ball, and send the game to extra time.
Chaouat thought he had made it 2-1 early in the second period of extra time but the effort was ruled out for offside against team-mate Abdi and the game eventually drifted towards a shootout.
Mali will travel north to Tangier to face 2021 champions Senegal in the last eight on Friday (16:00 GMT).
