Senegal 2 – 0 Cape Verde

Sadio Mane suffered a head injury then scored to help send Senegal to the AFCON quarter-finals, but was then substituted and taken to hospital.

Mane fired home from a set-piece after 62 minutes in a 2-0 win over Cape Verde, but had been hurt earlier in a nasty clash of heads with goalkeeper Vozinha, who was sent off for the incident.

Liverpool forward Mane then left the field shortly afterwards complaining of a headache and was taken to hospital.

Later on Tuesday, both Mane and Vozinha were pictured together smiling and giving the thumbs up from hospital.

Substitute Bamba Dieng scored Senegal’s second goal deep in stoppage time against a gallant Cape Verde side, who also had Patrick Andrade sent off after 20 minutes.

Senegal’s next opponents are either Mali or Equatorial Guinea, who play on Wednesday.

Mane had struck the woodwork in the opening minutes but it proved a false dawn as Senegal laboured through the first half, as they had done in the group phase where they finished top of the standings despite scoring once.

But their task was made easier when Andrade was dismissed for a studs-up challenge on Pape Gueye that continued a spate of similar punishments for dangerous tackles in the tournament.

It left Cape Verde down to 10 men for the final 70 minutes but they were reduced to nine when Vozinha was sent off.

He came out to challenge for a long ball against Mane with the two clashing heads. Vozinha was badly concussed and stumbled around the field for several minutes before being persuaded to go off by his team-mates.

In the interim, the referee was asked to look at the incident by the VAR and determined that Vozinha was reckless in his challenge on Mane, who was left with a swollen cheekbone. It seemed a harsh decision for the islanders, who quickly conceded.

A corner was half-cleared to an unmarked Mane who hit the ball into the net off the underside of the crossbar.

But he then looked uncomfortable almost immediately afterwards and sat down before walking off to be substituted.

Replacement Dieng got his first international goal on the counter-attack in stoppage time as Cape Verde threw caution to the wind in their bid to try and force an unlikely equaliser.

AFCON 2021 quarter-final fixtures and results

Saturday January 29

Quarter-final 1: Cameroon vs Gambia, 4pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala) – Live on Sky Sports
Quarter-final 2: Burkina Faso vs Tunisia, 7pm (Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua) – Live on Sky Sports Premier League

Sunday January 30

Quarter-final 3: Round-of-16 game 7 winner vs Morocco, 4pm (Olembe Stadium, Yaounde) – Live on Sky Sports Premier League
Quarter-final 4: Senegal vs Round-of-16 game 8 winner, 7pm (Japoma Stadium, Douala) – Live on Sky Sports Football

Sky Sports to show AFCON live

The Africa Cup of Nations tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in January and February.

The tournament, originally scheduled to be played in June and July 2021, will be played in Cameroon between January 9 and February 6, 2022, with Sky Sports showing all 52 games live.

Twenty-four teams will take part, kicking off on January 9 as hosts Cameroon host Burkina Faso in Yaounde, before culminating in the final on February 6 in the capital.