AFCON 2021 round of 16 update: Salah penalty defeats Ivory Coast, Jesus Owono stars for Equatorial Guinea, Egypt to face Morocco in last eight

The biggest AFCON 2021 round of 16 clash between Egypt and Ivory Coast turned out to be a dull affair.

Both sides played cautious football and were wary of being caught out on the counter-attack.

The action was mainly constrained to the middle of the park in the first half.

The two teams were stuck at 0-0 after 120 minutes of action, and the match went to penalties.

Nine players scored from the spot, with Eric Bailly the only man to miss from 12 yards out.

The Ivory Coast defender tried a cheeky no-look penalty which backfired for the African nation.

Mohamed Salah scored the decisive penalty to send Egypt through to the next round.

Owono turns saviour for Equatorial Guinea against Mali

Mali faced Equatorial Guinea in the last round of 16 match yesterday.

Mali dominated, but Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesus Owono was on hand to deny them.

His heroics continued in the penalty shoot-out after the match ended goalless.

Owono saved three of the eight penalties in the shoot-out to book a quarter-final spot for Equatorial Guinea.

Egypt set up quarter-final date with Morocco

Egypt’s win over Ivory Coast has set up an exciting quarter-final clash.

The Pharaohs will take on Morocco in the last eight on January 30.

Senegal and hosts Cameroon are favourites to progress to the semi-finals of AFCON 2021.