AFCON: Senegal beats Burkina Faso to book spot in final as Cameroon or Egypt await

By Matias Grez, CNN

Updated 1106 GMT (1906 HKT) February 3, 2022

Senegal reached its second successive AFCON final with victory over Burkina Faso.

(CNN)Senegal booked its place in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final on Wednesday with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Burkina Faso.

Abdou Diallo broke the deadlock with a scrappy goal on 70 minutes, turning the ball home following a corner kick, before an error in the Burkinabe defense allowed Sadio Mane to set up Idrissa Gueye.However, Burkina Faso refused to go down without a fight and Blati Toure gave The Stallions a glimmer of hope with eight minutes remaining, using his knee to divert Issa Kabore's cross past Edouard Mendy in the Senegalese goal.But with Burkina Faso chasing a late equalizer, Mane exposed the defense on the counterattack and chipped the ball over the onrushing Farid Ouedraogo to seal the win for The Lions of Teranga.«It shows you the momentum we have,» Mane said after the match. «We knew it was not going to be at all easy to get to two straight AFCON finals, but the most important for us now is to go all the way and win it, whoever we come up against.Read More»We were up against a really good Burkina side who caused us a lot of problems. We expected a tough game, and it was, but we stayed calm and created lots of chances. I think we deserved to win tonight."READ: 'We've got a chance to win it all!' — NBA superstar Joel Embiid discusses his love of Cameroon at the Africa Cup of NationsSenegal players celebrate after Abdou Diallo opened the scoring.Despite the country producing numerous talented players over the years, Senegal has remarkably never won an AFCON title. Aliou Cisse's side also reached the final in 2019, eventually losing 1-0 to Algeria and the