The Ivory Coast have made a comeback at the Africa Cup. Thanks in part to BVB pro Sebastien Haller, they beat Senegal 5:4 on penalties.

Borussia Dortmund currently has no shortage of strikers. Niclas Füllkrug made a comeback with his hat-trick in the 3-1 win against VfL Bochum. Youssoufa Moukoko, who had been successful as a joker in the previous weeks, played well alongside him. And now there is also good news from BVB’s third center forward.

Sebastien Haller is currently at the Africa Cup with the Ivory Coast and has contributed to a real coup there. After a 1-1 draw in regular time, the Ivory Coast beat Senegal 5-4 on penalties. Haller scored too. It was an unexpected result in a round of 16 game that few would have predicted.

The hosts have not exactly marched through the tournament with confidence so far. Côte d’Ivoire finished third in a group that also included Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau, and only just made it into the knockout round as the fourth-best third-place team. It was clear that a group winner would be waiting there. With Senegal, it was then the title defender.

Senegal took an early lead, Côte d’Ivoire hit back shortly before the end

And he seemed to be steering the game in the expected direction at first. After just four minutes, Habib Diallo scored with an assist from former Bayern Munich star Sadio Mané, putting the ball under the crossbar. Ivory Coast were heading for an early exit from the home tournament after their embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in the group stage.

Even Haller, who came on for Jean-Philippe Krasso after 72 minutes, was initially unable to change that. Instead, Senegal keeper Edouard Mendy brought down Nicolas Pépé, which, after minutes of VAR checks, resulted in a penalty. Franck Kessié stepped up and converted the much-celebrated equalizer (86′). Extra time.

Because nothing of note happened, a penalty shootout was required. After former Mainz player Moussa Niakhaté, who was actually known as a safe penalty taker at the Rheinhessen, had put his penalty on the post at 2-2, Haller was allowed to take a penalty. The Dortmund player did better and scored into the left corner to make it 3-2 to the Ivory Coast. The Ivorians did not let go of the lead and after Kessié had again scored the decisive penalty, the joy knew no bounds. In the quarter-finals, the Ivory Coast, for whom Bayer Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou also played, will now face either Mali or Burkina Faso.