Burundi 0 Guinea 2: Yattara strikes twice to keep his side in AFCON contention

Mohamed Yattara scored twice as Guinea defeated 10-man Burundi 2-0 in Cairo to end a seven-match winless run at the Africa Cup of Nations and keep alive their hopes of progressing to the last 16.

Paul Put’s side were given an early boost when Christophe Nduwarugira was shown a straight red card for bringing down Yattara and the lively striker went on to punish Guinea with a brace.

Yattara opened the scoring 25 minutes in and doubled his personal tally seven minutes into the second half of Sunday’s clash.

But Guinea, with four points from their three matches, are now relying on results elsewhere as Madagascar earned a shock win over second-placed Nigeria in the day’s other Group B closer to leave Put’s men in third.

FULL TIME | Burundi – Guinea 0-2 #TotalAFCON2019 #BDIGUI pic.twitter.com/gcketyNMSp

— CAF (@CAF_Online) June 30, 2019

Burundi, heading home without a point from their first taste of the continental competition, made a slow start and were reduced to 10 men in the 12th minute when Yattara got across last man Nduwarugira and was pulled back 20 yards from goal.

And they were made to pay as Auxerre attacker Yattara pounced on a loose ball in the box to open the scoring with a clinical finish past Jonathan Nahimana.

Guinea, who kept unfit star midfielder Naby Keita on the bench for the full 90 minutes, were 2-0 up early in the second half thanks to another well-taken finish from Yattara.

He allowed Ibrahima Traore’s pass to run across his body and then placed the ball past Nahimana to kill off Burundi’s slim hopes, while Guinea’s fate is yet to be decided.

Guinea should have extended their advantage further but Amadou Diawara had a long-range shot saved by Nahimana and Jose Kante missed a glorious chance from 10 yards late on.