Senegal v Equatorial Guinea: Africa Cup of Nations 2022 quarter-final – live!

17 min: Mane breaks down the left after a one-two and cuts the ball back. A fine bit of defending from Equatorial Guinea in the middle, though, with a shot blocked, ends the danger. Pape Gueye is then booked for a cynical foul when Equatorial Guinea try to break down field.

“Evening,” emails Dean. “It seems quite possible that Egypt could end up facing Senegal and therefore Salah versus Mané in the final. There has plainly been some competition between them at LFC for goal scoring which has, at times, even looked to be somewhat detrimental to the team ethic. It would be fascinating to watch this rivalry into a game where they are actually on different sides.”

15 min: Equatorial Guinea mount another wave of attacking. They are definitely packing their defence, as a general rule, but they’re also happy to try and get men forward on occasion.

13 min: Idrissa Gueye curls a sweetly-struck free-kick goalwards. It flashes wide, but only just. Owono hadn’t moved – either he calculated it was going wide, or was simply hopelessly beaten by the effort.

11 min: Miranda fouls Mane in a central position outside the area. He remonstrates with the referee, but regardless, it’s a free-kick in a dangerous spot from Equatorial Guinea’s point of view.

9 min: Ciss crunches into an aerial challenge with Akapo. Akapo looks in considerable pain after, I think, taking an elbow to the head. Ciss is the first player to go in the referee’s notebook.

7 min: Well, that has showed me … Equatorial Guinea attack down the left. Nsue crosses from the left and only a good piece of defending in the middle stops a clear chance.

4 min: The early signs, in terms of how Equatorial Guinea are setting up, aren’t great in terms of this being an open and entertaining game. They are clearly aiming to contain Senegal and hit them on the break.

2 min: Diedhiou of Senegal buys a couple of yards of space about 35 yards from goal. The ball sits up nicely, and he attempts an extremely ambitious shot which flies wildly high and wide. Iban Edu has a crack at the other end, but that too is high over the bar.

Senegal get the match under way, and enjoy a spell of possession in their opponent’s half to begin with.

The Equatorial Guinea anthem ends and the players gee each other up, clapping, shouting and generally making it clear that they are not here to make up the numbers.

The teams are out on the pitch, and it’s time for the national anthems. Senegal’s first. The camera zooms in immediately on Sadio Mane, then runs along the rest of the side, Mendy of Chelsea standing alongside the captain, Koulibaly.

Cameroon will face Egypt in the semi-final on the other side of the draw. Burkina Faso await the winner of this evening’s match between Senegal and Equatorial Guinea. That’ll be Senegal, won’t it? Unless we see a seismic shock in the next couple of hours.

Sadio Mane starts for Senegal, despite that worrying head injury during the week in the round of 16 match against Cape Verde. Edouard Mendy plays, and perhaps most importantly, Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli is in central defence.

Senegal: Edouard Mendy, Sarr, Ciss, Nampalys Mendy, Koulibaly, Diallo, Idrissa Gueye, Pape Gueye, Diedhiou, Dia, Mane

Equatorial Guinea: Owono, Akapo, Ndong, Ganet, Obiang, Coco, Salvador, Machin, Nsue, Miranda, Buyla

Senegal are not the only side at this tournament whose campaign was hit by an outbreak of Covid-19, but they are still standing, and are the overwhelming favourites to progress into the semi-finals at the expense of Equatorial Guinea today.

Sadio Mané suffered a nasty blow to the head in their win against Cape Verde in the last 16: it seems he has been declared fit to play today, and if Senegal are able to call on their big guns, it is hard to imagine anything other than a victory for them.

Equatorial Guinea came through a penalty shoot-out win after a goalless draw against Mali on Wednesday. The 20-year-old goalkeeper Jesus Owono made the decisive save in that shoot-out. Can their run of upsets continue? We’re about to find out.

Team news and pre-match reading coming up. Kick-off: 7pm UK