Burkina Faso vs Senegal: Senegal to proceed to the next stage

After some hard battles during the ground stage down to the knockout stages, both teams have been immensely promising to have come this far and they go against each other to decide who will be in the Finals. Burkina Faso and Senegal will be wishing for their first bite of the AFCON trophy when they lock horns at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Tuesday.

Last five matches: LWDWW

Burkina Faso would not have reckoned their luck as they kickstarted the first match of the semifinals, they have played so satisfactorily right from their defence down to their striking department.

After being paired with the host in the group stage, they opened the tournament with a match against Cameroon but lost as the host whipped them 2-1. Just as a normal team is supposed to, they responded with a win against Cape Verde.

They were held to a 1-1 draw against Ethiopia to round it up, and a point from the match was enough to qualify them for the next round, however, they were three points behind the table topper and tied on points with Cape Verde with four points.

They were forced to a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw against Gabon in full time. Bertrand Traore missed a penalty in the 18th minute but soon rewrote his mistake in the 28th minute to give his team the lead, Gabon were down to ten men in the 67th minute as Adama Guira scored against his team to level in the 91st minute. After extra minutes without a win, they had to settle for a penalty shootout and Burkina Faso won 7-6.

After a hard-fought match against Tunisia where Dango Quattara scored in the last minute of the first half, and having the lowest share of the possession, they managed to have more shots on target (5) as against Tunisia's (3). They were down to ten men in the 82nd minute when Dango Quattara was shown a red card. That win against Tunisia shows how resilient they are.

Ranked 60th according to FIFA, Burkina Faso head into this match having lost just once in eleven matches they have played in recent times. They have won three matches, drawn one and lost one so far in this tournament, they have also scored in all the matches they have played.

Key player: Steeve Yago

Last five matches: WDDWW

The Lions of Teranga remain the best defensive side in this tournament and have shown in their last two matches that they can score goals as well.

Senegal qualified as the winner of Group B with five points and were paired with Cape Verde in the round of sixteen, the match didn't look like it was going to have goals in it even when Cape Verde were down to ten men.

It became more interesting when Vozinho was red-carded in the 57th minute and Senegal were all out to devour the already defeated Cape Verde, Sadio Mane powered in a wonderful shot to give Senegal the lead in the 63rd minute as Ahmadou Dieng doubled the lead just before the final whistle as the game ended in a 2-0 victory to hand them Semifinals ticket.

They were at the top of their game against Equatorial Guinea as they scored three goals in a match for the first time in this tournament. Famara Diedhiou gave the Lions of Teranga the lead in the first half as Jannick Buyla equalized for Equatorial Guinea just some minutes into the second half. Cheikhou Kouyate capitalized on Equatorial Guinea's defensive error as he gave his team the lead once again before a wonderful team goal from Ismaila Sarr to ensure they qualified for the next round.

Top rated in Africa and 20th in FIFA World ranking, the Lions of Teranga are unbeaten in their last eight matches, winning five and drawing three and they remain the only team with the best defensive record in this tournament.

Key player: Sadio Mane

Both teams met in the 2017 World Cup qualifier and both legs ended in a draw (2-2) and (0-0) with two red cards in both matches.

Senegal are dreaming of their first ever AFCON title and will be brutal in pursuing their ambition, we believe Senegal are well equipped in all departments so we are going with Senegal win for 1.83.

Burkina Faso have scored in all their matches in this tournament so we are backing both teams to score for 2.62.

Extremely tough match, but nothing for both teams to lose at this stage as they will go all out against each other, bet on over 2.5 for 2.80.

Good luck!