Senegal v Benin: Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final – live!

45 min: Koulibably unlocks the Benin defence with another fine ball from deep. Sabaly takes it down on the left and looks up to see Mane free in the centre, begging for a tap-in! But Sabaly’s pass is dreadful, straight to the backtracking Verdon, who clears gratefully!

44 min: Soukou is aghast to be booked after winning the ball via a fine sliding tackle on Ndiaye, after which he got up and blasted into the net from the edge of the area. Soukou’s baffled anger is understandable: I don’t think that was a foul, let alone a bookable offence! Senegal are lucky to be level.

42 min: One cute pass from Gueye aside, there is no creative quality coming from Senegal’s midfield. Mané and Balde are having to make do with raking long balls from the back, chiefly from Koulibaly. There’s a sad lack of inspiration from them, and Benin have been comfortable for most of the match despite having less possession.

40 min: Mané battles and tricks his way past three players down the left and then sneaks the ball through to Gueye, who overhits his cross.

38 min: A sharp move down the left by Senegal, led by Balde and then given a dangerous injection by Gueye, who flipped a lovely pass through to Niang. The striker shows tidy feet to trick his way past one and then goes down under a challenge by Adeoti. He looks to the ref for a penalty but nothing doing. Good decision.

36 min: Senegal pounce on a bit of sloppiness in midfield by Benin and then hurtle forward, enticed by a rare gap in Benin’s defence. But then Senegalese players get in their own way and offer Benin a chance to recover. The chances evaporates.

34 min: Adeoti takes a Senegalese clearance down on his chest and then swats the bouncing ball with his right foot at goal from over 25 yards. It’s an elegant try but Gomis isn’t about to let it go past him and makes a comfortable catch.

32 min: Saivet produces a vicious delivery from a deep freekick from the left, whipping it over the last defender. Koulibaly does his best to try to get a decisive touch on it but just misses.

31 min: Mounié is playing the lone frontman role very well here. He’s everywhere, showing his strength, nimble footwork and intelligence by winning and holding up the ball and bringing teammates into play.

30 min: That’s better from Senegal! Mané, barely involved in the last while, takes down a long ball and then stabs a cute pass through towards Niang. But the keeper charged off his line to claim it before the striker.

29 min: The threat from Benin is growing and Senegal’s reaction is not impressive – they are looking downright sluggish. When Benin play their way in down the left, Senegal are lucky that Soukou does not realise how much time and space he has in the box, as he tries to pick out a poorly placed teammates when he had a clear sight of goal himself.

27 min: Soukou curls a low freekick into the danger zone. Poté tries to flick it into the net from seen yards, but it flies just wide! So close to the strike against the run of play that Benin are counting on.

26 min: Kouyaté is adjudged, rather harshly, to have pushed over Soukou just outside the left-hand corner of the Senegalese box. A chance for Benin, then …

24 min:As a sign of Benin’s rising ambition – or lack of options going forward – Soukou has a pop from 30 yards. It trickles a few yards wide.

23 min: Saivet swings in a corner from the left. Mounié heads it to safety.

21 min: Souku sends a long freekick from the right into the mixer. Mounié challenges for it with Gomis, and, inevitably, the referee blows for a foul against the keeper. We’ve heard more of the whistle than of the djembes so far. This really is a punctilious official.

19 min: Benin have enjoyed a little more possession in the last couple of minutes. They’ll be happy with the start to this game, as although Senegal have had most of the play, there has been little threat.

17 min: The referee inadvertently blocks a pass by Adeoti and then blows the whistle to stop play and give the ball back to Benin.

15 min: On a rare venture into Senegalese territory, Adeoti draws a foul from Gueye. It’s mid-way inside the Senegalese half and it comes to nothing.

13 min: A nice one-two twixt Mané and Niang works a shooting opportunity for the Liverpool man; the keeper smothers his close-range shot well before looking up to see if needn’t have bothered, because Mané was offside. It’s all Senegal.

11 min: Sabaly’s cross from the left takes a deflection and forces the keeper into a quick readjustment at the near post. He gathers it safely at the second attempt.

9 min: Koulibaly drops a ball from the centre circle over the top of the Benin defence and into the path of Mané, who bent his run smartly before taking the ball down on his chest at the edge of the area. But two Benin defenders react quickly to bundle him away.

7 min: Verdon beats Mane to a pass into the right-hand channel and puts it out for a throw-in near the corner flag. Senegal take it quickly and Gassama tries to wriggle into space for a cross but has to settle for a corner. Saviet will deliver again: will Poté go for it after the fearful blow he copped when clearing the last one? No need, because Saviet couldn’t get it past the first man.

6 min: Poté returns to the action and goes straight back into defensive mode as Benin continue trying to fend off Senegal, who are probing patiently.

4 min: As Poté is taken off on a stretcher – seemingly indicating that he will be able to return – the Senegalese fans in the sparsely populated stadium play their djembes and dance in unison.

3 min: Senegal have taken the initiative from the start and are playing very much in the Beninese half. Their first corner is delivered towards the near post by Saivet. Poté does well to get to to it before Koulibaly and then clashes heads with the defender. It looked painful and he needs treatment.

1 min: A blast of the referee’s whistle is the signal for Senegal to get the game going. That official, by the way, is Moutapha Ghorbal of Algeria, who also took of charge of Senegal’s win over Uganda in the last round: he has a decidedly inconsistent approach that day, dishing out very severe bookings but then deciding against giving a second to the Ugandan keeper after a blatant sending-off offence, which meant Onyango remained on the pitch to save a penalty from Mane. It’ll be interesting to see, on that note, whether the Liverpool man will take one today if Senegal get one, as he has missed three out of four attempts at the Afcon.

It’s national anthem time and the players of each country to their duty with gusto.

The winners of this match will face either Madagascar or Tunisia. Isn’t it wonderful that it is not completely absurd to envisage an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Benin and Madagascar?

After a group stages and round of 16 featuring good old-fashioned refereeing fiascos, this match is the first at this tournament that will have the dubious benefit of Var. Let’s see if Caf can handle it rather better than they did during this year’s African Champions League final, which ended prematurely (or not at all, given that the matter may still be decided in court) amid a kinghell ruckus involving a lot of bad-mouthing, finger-wagging and an alleged headbutt.

Aliou Cissé has made just one change to the lineup that ground out a functional win over Uganda in the last round: Keita Balde comes in for the injured Sarr. That means M’baye Niang continues up front, presumably on the basis that the law of averages alone suggests he can’t have yet another blunt game. At last Mounié’s lack of goals have been down to (mostly) inadequate service. Might today be the day when one of the strikers ends their barren spell in decisive style?

Senegal: Gomis, Gassama, Koulibaly, Kouyaté, Sabaly; Gueye, Ndiaye, Saivet; Balde, Niang, Manté, Niang

Benin: Allagbé; Baraze, Verdon, Imorou, Adilehou; Adeoti, D’Almeida, Poté, Soukou; Sessesgon; Mounié

Referee: M Ghorbal (Algeria)

Hello, it’s quarter-final time in the Africa Cup of Nations and if you expected Benin to be here, you’re a genius or a fool. The Squirrels had never won match at the tournament before this year – and they still haven’t, yet here they are in the last eight. And deservedly so! There’s little to suggest they have the ability to oust a solid, star-studded but not yet spectacular Senegal team, other than the fact that they’ve proven cussedly hard to beat so far, they work their socks off and they do have a sprinkling of quality. Also, Senegal are under fierce pressure not only to win today but to go on and win this tournament for the first time, especially after Egypt and Morocco (beaten by Benin) fell surprisingly by the wayside. What is more, thanks to the return of Benin’s top striker from suspension, we can bill this clash as Steve Mounié v Sadio Mané. What’s not to look forward to? It’s on!