International friendly: Ivory Coast 2 Tunisia 0

Goals from Chelsea teammates Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba gave the Ivory Coast a deserved 2-0 win over Tunisia in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The Ivorians dominated proceedings from the outset at Abou Zaied Stadium while their opponents struggled to find any fluency.

The opening goal came on 44 minutes when Kalou slipped between the defensive duo of Bilel Ifa and Karim Haggui and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi.

Things would get worse for the north Africans just three minutes into the second half when Haggui handled the ball in his penalty area.

The referee awarded a penalty that Drogba converted, sending Mathlouthi the wrong way in the process.

Tunisia came close to reducing the deficit on the ensuing attack but Barry Copa parried Yassine Chikhaoui’s free-kick.

With the west Africans content to sit-back and defend their two goal lead, Tunisia enjoyed their best bit of possession but failed to make it count.

On 72 minutes, Francois Zahoui’s men were reduced to ten men when Cheikh Tiote was sent off for an aggressive push on Majdi Traoui.

Minutes later, substitute Youssef Msakni’s chip pass to Saber Khelifa could have resulted in a Tunisian goal but Copa made an impressive lunging save.

The Ivorian goalkeeper was then equal to another Tunisian effort, this time parrying Sami Allagui’s powerful close range strike.

The Ivory Coast held firm and should have been awarded their second penalty kick of the game but the referee ignored a last ditch tackle by Aymen Abdennour on Bony Wilfried.