Didier Drogba, one of the most valuable players in this tournament's Africa Cup of Nations, is gradually showing quality commensurate with his value. In the quarter-finals, he withstood the pressure and scored the winning penalty to knock Cameroon, who had won all three of their group games, out of the quarter.www.biquge.info

In the semi-finals, Ivory Coast knocked out another long-standing African powerhouse, Nigeria, with a goal shortly after the start of the second half.

The last time the two teams met in the Africa Cup ******of Nations was back in 1994 when they also met in the semi-finals, 2-2 after 120 minutes, and Nigeria won 4-2 on penalties to win the title.

Twelve years later, there is only one player left in that winning squad, the 32-year-old Okocha.

Nigerians are hoping to win their opponents and continue their good fortune. But the Ivorians also had their own expectations - at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations in Nigeria, the Ivorians picked up their first points at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking before the game, Drogba said: "Hopefully the Nigerian will give us another gift. ”

Neither side put their main forces into the attack after the start of the game, and the midfield became the focus of the battle. With a number of players from both teams playing in the Europa League and the importance of the game, there were few highlights in the opening 15 minutes, with the exception of a direct free-kick from Didier Drogba and a corner kick from Nigeria.

Ivory Coast have some advantage in terms of time on the ball, while Nigeria, led by youngsters, are clearly inexperienced, conceding goals faster and following the rhythm of their opponents.

The first half ended 0-0. The second half started less than two minutes. Two Premier League players from the Ivory Coast teamed up to score the only goal of the game from Toure's long pass from the back, which was also the Blackburn striker's third goal of the tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations.

In the 53rd minute, Okocha, who had been plagued by a thigh injury, came off the bench for his first appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations. However, his presence did not make a positive difference to the situation, only appearing on television on three free-kicks. Coach Eguavon then brought on Makinwa and Nigeria went on to attack in a frantic front four, but in the end the Ivorians couldn't let their comeback succeed and stubbornly sent them to Thursday's third-place final in Cairo.

Four days later, the final of the Africa Cup of Nations was played at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt.

In the semi-finals, Egypt beat Senegal 2-1. Interestingly, in the group stage, the two title contenders have met each other, and Ivory Coast, who had already qualified early, did not give their best in the final group game, and Egypt won 3-1.

Historically, Egypt has won the Africa Cup of Nations four times, while Ivory Coast won it once in 1992. Egypt's Mido was expelled from the national team for insulting the manager, which is not good news for the hosts.

Egypt, wearing the red shirt, were very positive from the start of the game, dominating the time of possession, but Ivory Coast defended well and Egypt barely had many chances to score.

Didier Drogba was lively up front, and in the 15th minute he fired a low right-footed shot from the edge of the box that went wide of the right post. In the 23rd minute, Drogba distributed the ball to his teammates, but unfortunately the power was too great.

The two teams were locked in a stalemate for a while. In the 38th minute, a corner kick from the front of Ivory Coast was driven into the penalty area, and Drogba's header was slightly wide. In the rest of the first half, neither team had too good chances to score. The first half ended with a 0-0 draw between Egypt and Ivory Coast.

After the start of the second half, the two teams gradually slowed down the pace of attack. Egypt worked the pitch, but they didn't pose much of a threat in attack. In the 54th minute, Drogba fired a right-footed shot from outside the box, but the ball went over the crossbar.

In the 65th minute, Didier Drogba had his best chance of the game when he met a cross from near the bottom line on the right side of his team-mate's penalty area and fired a right-footed shot over the crossbar almost goal-to-goal. Drogba was very remorseful and could only hold on to the post and regret it.

Egypt scored a goal in the final moments of the game, but it was disallowed due to a foul.

After five minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, the two teams played to a 0-0 draw, and the game went to extra time.

Shortly after the start of the first half of extra-time, Egypt had a good chance to take a penalty, but captain Hassan missed it.

After that, Drogba had a great chance, but the Blackburn star fired over the crossbar.

In the second half of extra time, both teams had a decrease in stamina and more errors. After 120 minutes, the two teams were tied 0-0 and the game went to a penalty shoot-out - the sixth time in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations final that it has reached a penalty shoot-out.

Ivory Coast's luck was not the best in the penalty shoot-out, as Drogba was saved from the penalty spot in the first round. In the third round, Egyptian Ali shot over the crossbar, but the Ivorian Koné's shot was saved. In the end, Egypt defeated Côte d'Ivoire 4-2.

Didier Drogba's journey to the Africa Cup of Nations came to an end with a disappointing ending, while Blackburn, where he played, also said goodbye to this season's Champions League campaign in a very depressed way.

Blackburn stars Ibrahimovic and Frank Lampard have won the European Ballon d'Or in the past two years, but they were not awarded the World Footballer of the Year, and the guy they were beaten was one person, Ronaldinho.

And Ronaldinho won the World Footballer of the Year for two consecutive years, but he could not win the highest recognition of the European Ballon d'Or, and he was also angry about the stars in Black's team that blocked him.

Blackburn Rovers and Barcelona have finally met in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season.

Both teams' starting strikers have left the team temporarily due to the Africa Cup of Nations, but compared to Drogba, who has been in the final all the time, Eto'o, who was eliminated early, returned to the team before the first leg of the meeting, which made Arthur frustrated.

Because the biggest "hero" who allowed Eto'o to successfully return to the team early was Drogba who led the team to defeat Cameroon!

Last season, Barcelona and Blackburn both won their respective leagues, and it seemed as if God's hand was balancing the balance of fortunes, or UEFA's black hand was behind it.

In the quarterfinals, Barcelona vs Blackburn, Barcelona are aiming to challenge the Blue Devils, while Blackburn Rovers want to continue their unbeaten record in the Champions League.

At Ewood Park in the first leg, Motta's own goal gave Blackburn the lead at one point. However, Vidic, who then started due to an injury to Stam, was too immature and also rewrote the score to 1:1 with an own goal.

Misfortune is not alone, not only is Vidic suffering, but Finnan is also making mistakes in his busyness.

The 19-year-old Messi can already use his skills to torture Blackburn's defenders, in the first half, Finnan rushed Messi, and the referee Norwegian Hauge was decisive enough to show a red card directly, thinking that he could only get a yellow card at most.

Samuel Eto'o's 80th-minute winner sealed a 2-1 home defeat to Barcelona under Jose Mourinho's Blackburn Rovers in the Champions League.

After the game, the Portuguese slammed Messi for "diving", which led to a red card for Finnen. The defeat left the madman furious, and Mourinho threw the blame for the defeat onto the referee, leaving behind the famous phrase "When 11 against 11, we never lost to Barcelona".

It's been a war of words, and it's been a controversy, and the two most watched teams in the world have caused many sports journalists to increase their salaries in the past two weeks.

Moving to Camp Nou in the second leg, the Blues were aiming to fight back, but World Footballer Ronaldinho's long-distance run across the Blues even if European Footballer Frank Lampard pulled a goal back.

Barcelona eliminated the defending champions with an aggregate score of 3:2 and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

Blackburn were excluded from the quarter-finals for the first time in nearly four seasons, and their Champions League dream was shattered, and this time it was so unwilling that many young players couldn't stop crying, especially Vidic, who made a big mistake in the first leg, and Robben, who missed a good chance to equalize, cried like a child.

Arthur, who rarely followed the team to watch the game away this season, looked at the disciples on the field and became sad.

Before this season, Arthur realised that Blackburn Rovers were unlikely to win the Champions League trophy again, partly because with Mourinho's tactics being thoroughly studied by the teams, the Blues' counter-attacks were no longer as powerful as they once were; On the other hand, many players in the team will not be as hungry and thirsty for honor as they have been in the past two years, although they can still be very iron-blooded, but they lack the fighting momentum of the past two years, after all, they are now kings, and they are no longer the barefoot men of the past.

Of course, on top of that, UEFA certainly won't allow a team to complete a treble, and Finnen's red card in the first leg is debatable.

Arthur's mind was constantly flashing some images of the game, Frank Lampard's cheerful expression after his goal, Duff's somewhat lost but still determined eyes after Ronaldinho's goal, Makellele's reluctant expression when he came off the field, and the always gentlemanly Alonso chasing the referee's penalty near the end......

"Why do I feel the urge to shed tears?" Arthur smiled and quickly adjusted his mindset.

"It's okay, we will come back next year, we will play better than this year, we will continue to work hard like this, and if we fail, we will get up again, and we will get stronger and stronger until we win the cup again! That's the beauty of football, isn't it? (To be continued.) )