Bundesliga at AFCON: Late stunner helps quartet advance
| Through to the last eight | Neil Baynes/Bayer 04 Leverkusen via Getty Images |
Algeria qualified for the quarter-final of AFCON with a dramatic win over DR Congo. Adil Boulbina scored the winner in the 119th minute. The Al-Duhail midfielder has only played one game in the group stage, but he sends the North Africans through with a spectacular finish five minutes after coming on as a substitute.
All four Bundesliga players in Algeria’s squad – Ramy Bensebaini (Dortmund), Farès Chaïbi (Dortmund), Mohamed Amoura (Wolfsburg), and Ibrahim Maza (Leverkusen) – started the game for the 2019 champions. As a result of their qualification, they will not be available for their respective clubs when the Bundesliga resumes this weekend.
On the other side, Samuel Essende was once again an unused substitute for DR Congo. He’ll be the third Augsburg player to return early from the competition after Elias Saad and Ismaël Gharbi’s Tunisia lost to Mali.
Algeria will face Nigeria in the quarter-final on Saturday. The Super Eagles produced one of the most dominant displays of the tournament in a 4-0 victory over Mozambique the other day, but Victor Osimhen’s antics created an unwanted distraction in their push for a first title since 2013.
