Fresh off the back of eliminating tournament favourites Nigeria, Tunisia square off against Burkina Faso for a place in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations at the Roumde Adjia Stadium on Saturday.

This will be the first meeting between the sides since they both squared off at this stage of the tournament back in 2017, when the Stallions claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory before falling short to Egypt in the last four.

Match preview

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Burkina Faso's journey at the Africa Cup of Nations has been nothing short of a bumpy ride, but they have made it to the last eight all the same and will be delighted with their performance so far.

The West Africans got their tournament underway with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of host nation Cameroon in the opening game on January 9, before narrowly ending out Cape Verde 1-0 four days later, courtesy of Hassane Bande's first-half strike.

Kamou Malo's men wrapped things up in the group stages with a somewhat disappointing 1-1 draw with Ethiopia last Monday, when Cyrille Bayala's first-half opener was cancelled out by Getaneh Kebede to hand the East Africans their first point of the tournament.

Despite picking up four points from nine available, Burkina Faso finished runners-up in Group A, three points off first-placed Cameroon and level on points with Cape Verde, who secured qualification as one of the four best third-placed sides.

Les Etalons then needed penalties to see off a spirited Gabon side in the round of 16 when the sides squared off at the Limbe Omnisport Stadium last Sunday.

After going ahead courtesy of Bertrand Traore's first-half strike, Adama Guira scored an own goal to level matters and with nothing separating the sides after 120 minutes, the game progressed to penalties where the Stallions secured a 7-6 victory in a nervy encounter.

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Burkina Faso, who will be looking to make it to the semi-finals for the first time in five years, head into Saturday's game unbeaten in all but one of their last 10 games across all competitions, claiming four wins and five draws in that time.

Tunisia, on the other hand, picked up their biggest result at the tournament so far when they stunned Nigeria to a 1-0 victory in their last-16 clash last time out.

In a nerve-racking encounter at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, 31-year-old forward Youssef Msakni came up trumps for the Eagles of Carthage, scoring the winner when he drilled a long-range shot past Maduka Okoye two minutes after the interval.

This followed a disappointing run in the group stages, where they finished as one of the four best third-placed sides after managing just three points from their three games in Group F.

Buoyed by their victory over the Super Eagles, Mondher Kebaier's men, who are making their 15th consecutive appearance at the tournament, will now look to go all the way and repeat their 2004 run, when they made it to the final and defeated Morocco 2-1 to clinch their first continental title.

Team News

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Issoufou Dayo is a major doubt for Burkina Faso after the Berkane defender missed the game against Gabon after recently testing positive for COVID-19.

Having started each of his side's opening three games, the 30-year-old was replaced by Soumaila Ouattara, who should retain his position in the XI after a solid performance.

Traore made up for his 18th-minute penalty miss when he opened the scoring 10 minutes later and the Aston Villa forward should spearhead the attack once again.

Meanwhile, with the COVID-19 situation in the squad taking an ease, Tunisia will be boosted by the return of several key players, including Ali Maaloul, Ghailene Chaalali and Ben Hmida.

Having featured for just four minutes against Nigeria, Wahbi Khazri will push for a return to the starting lineup on Saturday and we expect the Saint-Etienne man to lead the attack once again.

Msakni came up trumps for the North Africans with his winner against the Super Eagles last time out and the 31-year-old forward should team up with Khazri at the attacking end of the pitch.

Burkina Faso possible starting lineup:
Koffi; Kabore, Tapsoba, Ouattara, Yago; Nikiema, Guira, Sangare; Bande, Ouattara, Traore

Tunisia possible starting lineup:
Said; Drager, Talbi, Ifa, Haddadi; Skhiri, Laidouni, Slimane; Khazri, Jaziri, Msakni

We say: Burkina Faso 1-2 Tunisia

After a shaky run in the group stages, Tunisia will head into the quarter-finals with renewed confidence following their victory over Nigeria. While we expect Burkina Faso to put up a fight, the North African boast a more experienced crop of players and we are tipping them to carry on the momentum from their performance against the Super Eagles and come out victorious on Saturday.

Written by
Joshua Ojele

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