AFCON: Benin coach Rohr admits Senegal was difficult side

Benin coach Gernot Rohr admitted Senegal deserved to win their final group fixture of the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The Lions of Teranga underlined their AFCON title credentials with a commanding 3-0 victory over Benin in their final Group D encounter, in an entertaining contest played in Tangiers on Tuesday.

Abdoulaye Seck rose highest to power home a header from Krépin Diatta to put Senegal ahead before Habib Diallo made it 2-0 following a sliding pass from Sadio Mane.

The match took a dramatic turn in the 71st minute when captain Kalidou Koulibaly was shown a red card following a VAR review, forcing Senegal to see out the contest with ten men for the final quarter of an hour. However, in added minutes, Cherif Ndiaye converted from the penalty spot after Ibrahim Mbaye was brought down in the area, sealing a comprehensive scoreline.

Senega difficult to break through their defence

“This was a very difficult match against a highly experienced team like Senegal. Even though they were down to ten men it was difficult to break through their defence because they were compact,” said Rohr.

“We also wanted to avoid a situation where we could get some cards that would have ruled out some of our players in the knock out stage and this made us a bit cautious.

“These are some of the mistakes we will correct before we play in the knockout stage and we will fight to go as far as possible in the competition.”

On his part, Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said: “The players deserve all the praise for their performance in this difficult match that we played with ten men for some parts of the game. We faced a very determined Benin team but we managed to achieve our main objective of finishing top of the group.

“Our next objective is to correct the mistakes we made in our group stage match before we go into the Round of 16 because on that stage there will be no rooms for errors which will be published.

“We will use the next few days to address these problems.”

Senegal finished top of Group D, while Benin, despite the defeat, progress to the Round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.