Manchester United's Amad Diallo is hoping to realise his dream of leading Ivory Coast to glory during his first taste of the Africa Cup of Nations. 

The Ivory Coast are into the quarter-finals of the competition after finishing top of Group F with seven points, before comfortably beating Burkina Faso 3-0 in the round of 16. 

Amad scored in that victory, his third goal in four matches at AFCON. Indeed, only Laurent Pokou (eight in 1970 and six in 1968) and Joel Tiehi (four in 1994 and 1998) have netted more for Ivory Coast in a single edition.

He also became the first Ivorian to both score a goal and deliver an assist in an AFCON knockout match since Yaya Toure in 2012, and he will aim to kick on from here. 

The 23-year-old is representing his nation for the first time at the competition, having missed the 2023 edition, which Ivory Coast won, due to sustaining an injury. 

"Of course. As I say, this is my first AFCON. It's a dream come true for me," Amad told Stats Perform when asked if he was looking to make up for lost time in this edition. 

"It was disappointing for me to miss the one in the Ivory Coast, but I was very happy when they won the Africa Cup.

"And today, I'm here, I'm among the selected players to take part in my first AFCON. I'm very happy, and I try to give the maximum of myself in every match."

Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 2-1 in the last AFCON final two years ago to win their third title, and they could create a bit of history should they lift the crown again this year. 

Indeed, they would become the first team since Egypt, who won three AFCONs in a row between 2006 and 2010, to go back-to-back in the competition. 

During their success in 2023, Ivory Coast endured some nervy moments, qualifying for the knockout stage despite finishing behind Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea in the group.

They beat Senegal on penalties in the last 16 before needing extra time to edge past Mali, and despite those struggles, Amad says those previous experiences were in the past. 

"We're not trying to compare. We're not trying to compare the two. Both competitions are different; this one is a new competition," Amad said. 

"Every competition has its own reality. We're just trying to focus on ourselves. We're just trying to give the best of ourselves, and that's what we try to do every match.

"Every competition has its own realities. We know that in the Ivory Coast, it was a bit mixed. It was quite difficult to qualify from the group.

"But afterwards, they did everything to win the competition. And here, things have gone a bit better.

"We qualified from the group, and we're trying to keep giving our maximum to move forward in this competition."

Standing in Ivory Coast's way of a semi-final spot is record seven-time winners Egypt, who needed extra-time to beat Benin 3-1 to reach the last eight. 

Egypt have won each of their last five quarter-finals at AFCON, since a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the 2002 edition, and Amad is expecting a tough game. 

"First of all, we need to prepare with a lot of humility and concentration. We know Egypt has often been a tough opponent for Ivory Coast," Amad added.  

"But as I've said before, generations have changed. This is a new generation. We'll approach the match with humility.

"We know Egypt have great players, but we want to win this competition. And to win it, you have to beat the best teams. I hope it starts against Egypt."

One player Amad was keen to highlight was Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, who has led his team from the front throughout the tournament. 

"I don't know," Amad said when asked if there was a game plan in place to stop Salah. "It will depend on the system and how we play.

"Mohamed Salah is a legend. The staff will analyse that. We know what we have to do."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Egypt – Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah has scored four goals in his last five games at AFCON, as many as in his previous 12 appearances.

Indeed, three of his last four goals have either come in added time in the second half (two) or in added time in the second half of extra time (one).

Ivory Coast – Amad Diallo

Amad has been directly involved in four goals (three goals, one assist) in his four matches at AFCON, and he will be keen to continue that run going here.

Coming into the quarter-finals, only Ademola Lookman had more goal involvements (seven), while no player was involved in more shots than Amad (24 –15 shots, nine chances created).

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

This will be the 12th meeting at AFCON between Egypt and Ivory Coast, the most played fixture in the history of the competition, with the Pharaohs only losing one of the previous 11 matches (W7 D3).

Egypt have progressed from all five knockout stage matches (including third place play-off) against Ivory Coast at AFCON (W2 D3), with three victories via penalty shootouts, including the most recent in the round of 16 tie in January 2022 (0-0, won 5-4 on penalties).

But since last winning the competition in 2010, this is just the third time in eight editions at AFCON that Egypt have reached the quarter-finals (finishing as runners-up in 2017 and 2021).

Ivory Coast, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last eight AFCON games (W6 D2); only once going longer without defeat in the competition (nine between January 2012 and January 2013).

They have also only failed to progress from two of their last 11 knockout matches at AFCON, losing on penalties both times (vs Algeria in the quarter-finals in 2019 and vs Egypt in the round of 16 in 2021).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Egypt – 38%

Draw – 27.2%

Ivory Coast – 34.8%