Reigning champions Senegal are out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations after the Lions of Teranga were knocked out of the tournament on penalty shootout by host Côte d’Ivoire on Tuesday.

It was a surprising outing for the host nation for they had to wait until the final match of the group stage to qualify as one of the four best third-placed teams courtesy of Morocco’s win over Zambia. 

Meanwhile, Senegal advanced to the round of 16 as the only team to win their three group stage matches in the tournament. But the one-time champions’ hope had been dashed by Côte d’Ivoire after more than 120 minutes of action.

In the game played at the Charles Konan Banny stadium in the country’s capital city of Yamoussoukro yesterday, Senegal took the lead only four minutes into the tie through Habibou Diallo, who skillfully controlled a cross from Sadio Mane with his chest and fired it home.

However, four minutes before the 90-minute mark, substitute midfielder Franck Kessie equalised for the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire from the penalty spot after a foul by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy on former Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe.

After 30 minutes of extra time play with no further goal from either side, the match went into penalty shootout with Côte d’Ivoire coming out victorious 5-4 after Moussa Niakhete missed the only kick in the shootout.

Côte d’Ivoire will now face the winner of the round of 16 game between Mali and Burkina Faso on Wednesday for a place in the last four.

Following the victory, Ivorians across the cities in the country including the economic capital of Abidjan went into a frenzy, dancing and launching colourful displays to celebrate the win.

The defending champions’ curse jinx continued at the AFCON as no winner of the tournament has scaled past the round of 16 in subsequent editions of the competition since Egypt last did it in 2008.