Following a month of thrilling action, the Africa Cup of Nations final will take place at Abidjan’s Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe on Sunday.
Despite a mid-tournament managerial change, hosts Ivory Coast find themselves one game away from glory, with Nigeria hoping to spoil the party this weekend.
The Super Eagles have won three AFCON titles, with their most recent triumph coming in 2013, while the Elephants clinched their second crown in 2015. Who will add another trophy to their collection?
Nigeria booked their place in the final thanks to a penalty shootout victory over South Africa in the semi-finals, following a 1-1 draw after extra time.
After drawing 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea in their opening match, Jose Peseiro’s side claimed four consecutive clean-sheet wins, defeating Ivory Coast 1-0 in their second group game.
Although the Super Eagles have scored a solitary goal in five of their six AFCON clashes, they have conceded just twice, underlining their defensive solidity.
When you look at the bigger picture, Nigeria have lost only one of their previous 14 matches across all competitions, so they will be confident of triumphing on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast punched their ticket to the final with a 1-0 victory over DR Congo on Wednesday, with Borussia Dortmund’s Sebastien Haller scoring the winner.
After losing two of their three group games – conceding five goals in the process – the Elephants sacked manager Jean-Louis Gasset, leaving Emerse Fae as caretaker boss.
However, the hosts eventually managed to sneak into the knockout phase before seeing off defending champions Senegal and Mali on their way to the semi-finals.
Although Ivory Coast average one goal per game at AFCON, they have conceded at a rate of 1.2 goals per game, highlighting their inconsistency.
Head-to-head: Following Nigeria’s 1-0 victory during the group stage, both sides have won three of the previous six meetings across all competitions.
In terms of the overall H2H stats, the two nations have met 28 times over the years, with both teams winning on nine occasions.
Team news: Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman has bagged three goals and one assist in six AFCON matches, while star striker Victor Osimhen has notched one goal and three assists.
As for the hosts, Seko Fofana and Franck Kessie have each contributed one goal and one assist, meaning they will likely line up in midfield in the final.
Given the remarkably even head-to-head record between Nigeria and Ivory Coast, Sunday’s final looks destined to be a close-fought battle.
Forebet’s algorithm predicts that Nigeria and Ivory Coast will play out a low-scoring draw in normal time, requiring extra time and/or penalties to decide the showpiece.