Manchester United’s Amad Diallo hails ‘good lad’ Bryan Mbeumo after AFCON shirt swap
MARRAKESH, Morocco — Manchester United winger Amad Diallo has hailed club teammate Bryan Mbeumo, whom he described as a “good lad”, and revealed they spoke before Ivory Coast’s 1-1 draw with Cameroon on Sunday.
Diallo scored the opener for Ivory Coast with a cracking long-range shot in the 51st minute and scooped his second straight Man of the Match award. He had previously earned the prize after scoring the only goal of the Elephants’ 1-0 opening win over Mozambique at the same venue – a cracking start to his first Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament after missing the previous two with injury.
This time, however, his goal was not the winner. Cameroon equalised five minutes later through a Ghislain Konan own goal and shared the spoils, with Mbeumo and Diallo subsequently sharing match shirts too – as the Ivorian winger arrived at the post-match press conference wearing Mbeumo’s.
Diallo said in the mixed zone post-game: “Bryan is a good teammate; good lad. We talked before the game. I told him after the game, we can change jerseys. He is a good lad and I wish him all the best with Cameroon. I want to think about myself, about my team, and try to win the last game.”
Amad has scored several spectacular goals in his career, including a derby winner for Manchester United against Manchester City a year ago. While his goal against Cameroon was superbly struck, he did not rate it among the best of his career.
He said: “It’s a good goal, but I don’t think it’s one of the best. I was happy – I wanted to win the game especially, so the goal [does have some significance] for me.”
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Responding to ESPN on comparisons between featuring for Ivory Coast against West African rivals Cameroon versus featuring for Manchester United against Manchester City, Diallo said: “It’s different. We are talking about Africa, so it’s different.
“Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon are big nations. This game was a big game. Cameroon have quality in the team. Bryan and Carlos Baleba play in the Premier League, so we knew in the beginning that it was going to be very tough to win this game.
“We were unlucky to draw the game, so now, we’re going to focus on the next game against Gabon and try to win that game.”
A point would be enough for the defending champions to progress to the last 16, but top spot in the group and a favourable seeding for the knockout rounds is still at stake.
Gabon are certain to finish bottom of the group, but Ivory Coast and Cameroon (4 points apiece) still have Mozambique (3 points) to worry about. The top two teams in Group F will automatically progress to the last 16. The third-placed side will only advance if they are one of the four best third-placed teams across six groups.
Ivory Coast will remain in Marrakesh and complete their group fixtures against Gabon on Wednesday, while Cameroon will travel to face Mozambique simultaneously in Agadir.
