Man Utd defender Bailly in penalty shocker as Ivory Coast eliminated from Afcon by Egypt
Manchester United defender Eric Bailly suffered the anguish of missing a crucial penalty for the Ivory Coast, which led to their elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations at the hands of Egypt on Wednesday.
The two sides were tied after extra time having each failed to score during 120 minutes of the last-16 encounter.
The game went to a shoot-out, in which Egypt prevailed 5-4 thanks to Bailly's costly miss.
Watch Bailly's penalty miss (UK only)
Eric Bailly misses!
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 26, 2022
It's unconventional... and it hasn't worked.
📱📺 Watch Ivory Coast v Egypt live on @BBCiPlayer.https://t.co/l0wVhJ2p1O #bbcafcon pic.twitter.com/GKNu2WzyEu
What happened?
The United centre-back stepped up to take Ivory Coast's third penalty, with the shoot-out level at 2-2 after all four previous kicks had found the target.
Bailly's nonchalant effort backfired, however, and Egypt keeper Mohamed Abo Gabal - who had come off the bench just before full-time - was able to claw the ball away to safety.
Mohamed Abou Gabal came on for Egypt in the 88th minute, kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty during Egypt's shootout 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5GmtBtIVUq
— GOAL (@goal) January 26, 2022
With the rest of the penalties finding their mark it was ultimately up to another Premier League star, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, to win the game with the final kick of the shoot-out.
Salah buried his effort into the bottom-right corner, sealing the win for Egypt and setting up a quarter-final clash with Morocco on Sunday.