Red Card and Blunder Make Mali Bite Their Fingers, Senegal to the 2025 African Cup of Nations Semifinals

Mali must be eliminated from the 2025 African Cup of Nations quarter-finals after being defeated by Senegal (Instagram/@teamofmali).

JAKARTA - Senegal won 1-0 over Mali who played with 10 players in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Africa Cup of Nations/Afcon) quarterfinal match which took place in Tangier on Friday, January 9, 2026, WIB evening.

Senegal became the first team to secure their place in the top four. Everton player Iliman Ndiaye secured the win with a close-range finish in the first half after a mistake from goalkeeper Djigui Diarra.

Senegal, the 2019 African Cup of Nations champion, who beat Sudan 3-1 in the last 16, remain in Tangier for the semi-finals on Thursday, January 15, 2026, early morning WIB.

Meanwhile, Mali, who lost Yves Bissouma in the first half injury time due to a red card, returned home without winning any matches in this tournament.

The decisive moment of the match came in the 29th minute, when Diarra, who stopped to intercept a cross from Krepin Diatta from the right wing, somehow failed to catch the ball and let it slip from control.

Ndiaye, who ran hard, reacted the fastest to steal the ball from five yards out and take the Singa Teranga to their third African Cup of Nations semi-final since 2006.

Mali, who entered this match with the worst disciplinary record in the tournament, lost Bissouma. The Tottenham Hotspur player was sent off at the end of the first half for a second yellow card after a duel with Idrissa Gana Gueye.

The Sea Eagles also played with 10 players after 26 minutes in the 16-team match against Tunisia. They were able to bounce back and tie the score 1-1 to force a penalty shootout - which they won 3-2.

Mali also felt disadvantaged because of the referee's decision not to give a penalty at the start of the match. At that time, Kalidou Koulibaly - who returned to the starting XI after being sent off in Senegal's last group match - knocked Lassine Sinayoko with a careless and untimely tackle in the third minute.

The Auxerre striker may have fallen rather dramatically, but Koulibaly can be relieved that the clearly reckless contact was not punished.

Senegal had the better of the chances thereafter, with Pape Gueye - hero of the win over Sudan - seeing his effort from 25 yards go just wide.

Meanwhile, Sadio Mane provoked the first yellow card for Bissouma after 23 minutes after successfully passing the Spurs player, who then retaliated by raising his hand to the face of the senior player of the Singa Teranga.

Mali's discipline has been a theme for this West African team throughout this tournament. They picked up their third red card of the tournament (no other team has more than one) when Bissouma brought down Gueye with a poor tackle.

The situation got worse for Mali when another influential midfielder, Amadou Haidara, was replaced early in the second half after failing to recover from a shoulder injury he suffered after falling to the ground in a duel with Diatta.

At this point, goalkeeper Diarra had started his mission alone to keep Mali alive in the game, saving a shot from left winger El Hadji Malick Diouf late in the first half, thwarting it with a superb reaction save, before blocking Gueye's effort from distance after the break.

However, the 10 Mali players occasionally threatened, with Edouard Mendy in action immediately after the break. It just seemed that their efforts were in vain.

Mane then forced Diarra into action 23 minutes before the end of the game when he poked inside and sent a shot straight at the Mali goalkeeper.

It was not a perfect redemption, but the 30-year-old goalkeeper at least kept Mali's chances alive with a brilliant save to thwart substitute Pathe Ciss's chance in the 77th minute. Then he reacted superbly to repel Lamine Camara's volley in injury time.

Mali, with its energy starting to decline, continued to attack forward to look for a tying goal. Although they managed to equalize for Tunisia in the 96th minute, there was no heroic action against Senegal.

Diarra ended the match with seven times thwarting Senegal's chances. However, nothing can take away the impact of the mistake in the first half that ultimately kept Senegal on track to claim their second Africa Cup of Nations title.