Burkina Faso booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations after a dramatic penalty shootout win over Gabon.
Aston Villa’s Bertrand Traore’s first-half goal looked like it was going to be the winner until the Gabon equalizer was called for a further half hour in extra time.
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But the sides could not separate after extra time, and so the AFCON last-16 clash led to a horrific penalty shootout.
And the drama that took place at Cameroon’s Limbe Stadium was almost too much to understand.
Both The side failed with their fourth- and sixth-place kicks, before Lloyd Palun’s omission meant Ismahila Oedraogo stepped in to score the winner, dramatically sending Burkina Faso through to a last-eight 7-6 on penalties. Gave.
Traore had previously opened the scoring for Burkina Faso on 28 minutes, and made amends for an earlier penalty miss in doing so.
The Aston Villa man calmly passed the offensive Jean-Nol Amonome after a clean through goal.
It was redemption for Traore after having missed a golden opportunity to lift Burkina Faso 1-0 from the penalty spot ten minutes earlier.
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He saw his attempt cannon off the bar after Sidney Obisa was judged harshly for perhaps pushing Issa Kabor in the box.
Obisa was then given his marching order in the second half, although his cynical pull-back on Dango Ouattara meant he had nothing to complain about this time.
But Gabon’s ten men missed as many chances to finish the game as Burkina Faso.
And finally he was punished in the final stages of the game.
A corner was tied on the line from close range in stoppage time, officially going down as Adama Guira’s own goal.
Gabon were playing without Arsenal man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after the striker was sent home with health problems last week.
And despite working hard with ten men and without their amulets, Gabon’s late goal was in the vein, as Burkina Faso regrouped and came out on top after a shootout.
They will now face the winners of Nigeria vs Tunisia in the last eight.
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