Lassine Sinayoko stroked residence a second-half penalty as Mali held on to frustrate Africa Cup of Nations hosts Morocco in Rabat tonight.
Brahim Diaz’s controversial opener, additionally from the spot, put Walid Regragui’s males in entrance on the break however Mali’s dogged method reaped its rewards when Sinayoko slotted previous Yassine Bounou to safe his facet their second successive 1-1 draw.
Morocco, who have been cheered on by Actual Madrid and France celebrity Kylian Mbappe, remain top of Group A with four points from two games and are nearly assured of a spot within the knockout levels however they did little to justify their tag as event favourites.
Actual Madrid midfielder Diaz was a chilled presence in a frantic encounter and he curled a free-kick over the bar after simply 4 minutes. He had one other nice likelihood shortly after the quarter-hour mark however noticed his low shot beautifully saved by Djigui Diarra.
Ayoub El Kaabi nodded over after 43 minutes and it appeared probably Morocco’s dominance would go unrewarded earlier than the break. However after Diaz escaped down the precise, he was partially halted by the stumbling Nathan Gassama. Within the act of attempting to maintain his toes, Gassama was adjudged to have dealt with and referee Abdou Abdel Mefire pointed to the spot.
It appeared extraordinarily harsh however Diaz confirmed no mercy, confidently slotting the spot-kick into the underside left-hand nook.
Mali hit again
Mali levelled 13 minutes into the second interval. Sinayoko burst by means of the center of the Morocco defence solely to be chopped down by Nayef Aguerd. Mystifyingly, Mefire waved play on solely to vary his thoughts when he seen the incident once more on the pitchside monitor.
Sinayoko scored, firing his shot beneath Bono, as Morocco conceded their first purpose in 918 minutes.
Skilled striker Youssef En-Nesryi was despatched on to offer some extra physicality to the Morocco assault and it virtually labored when he muscled his manner right into a capturing place however his low shot was beautifully blocked by Diarra.
Mali survived yet one more scare and this one was self-inflicted.
With the ten minutes of added on time virtually up, Woyo Coulibaly tried a dangerous again header below little stress, forcing Diarra into an excellent one-handed cease low to his proper.
