Riyad Mahrez had a tough night as 117th-ranked Angola came back from behind to hold Algeria to a 1-1 draw on Monday, at the Stade de la praix Stadium at the ongoing Afcon 2024 in Cote d’Ivoire
Algeria who dominated proceedings right from the kickoff, had 13 shots with 5 on target, their first scoring opportunity came in the ninth minute when Youcef Belaili intercepted Riyad Mahrez’s through ball and attempted a shot but Neblu parried the ball away.
Nine minutes later, they finally broke the deadlock when Baghdad Bounedjah followed Belaili’s long ball inside the Angolan box and found the back of the net with a simple lob. In the 25th minute, Bounedjah almost doubled his team’s with an acrobatic strike as he received a pass inside the box with his chest before slotting the ball home with a brilliant volley. Unfortunately, he intercepted the pass in an offside position and the goal was ruled out.
The Palancas Negras finally had their moment in the 65th minute when Nabil Bentaleb brought down Mabululu inside the box, the 31-year-old’s initial strike from the penalty spot had hit the underside of the crossbar but he managed to slot it home from rebound.
The star man of the Algerian team and Former Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez had a quiet evening on the pitch as he was heavily marked by the Angolan defender and could hardly breach their defence. A lot was expected from the experienced Algerian but he failed to deliver in his team’s tournament opener and cut a frustrated figure throughout the 90 minutes
The Algerians will aim to bounce back in their second group game on January 20 when they take on Burkina Faso in a must win game on the same day the Angolans will face Mauritania.
