Nigeria vs Ivory Coast LIVE: Afcon final updates as Sebastien Haller’s late goal wins tournament for hosts

Here come the players.

The fireworks have been set off, the closing ceremony is done and dusted. All that remains is for the Africa Cup of Nations final to begin.

Who will be on the winning side tonight?

Nigeria will have a strong London connection in tonight’s Africa Cup of Nations final with key players born in Britain likely to line up against the Ivory Coast.

There are four players born in the boroughs of the British capital in the Nigerian squad plus two other key regulars, Calvin Bassey and midfielder Alex Iwobi, who have lived in London from an early age.

Ola Aina, Semi Ajayi and Ademola Lookman are English-born and have made a major contribution to Nigeria’s progress to the final.

Joe Aribo, also from London and who struggled with injury at the start of the tournament, has had limited game time but has contributed off the bench.

Lookman, who is Nigeria’s top scorer at the tournament with three goals, is proving an excellent partner in attack alongside African Footballer of the Year Victor Osimhen.

Aina has emerged as arguably the best right back on view over the last month in the Ivory Coast while centre back Ajayi has played every minute of their six games.

By Mark Gleeson.

Ivory Coast have had the most improbable run; minutes away from a group stage exit, they sacked the manager, regrouped and went again under caretaker Emerse Fae. Late comebacks, stunning winners, penalties... everything has gone their way since and the 1-0 win over DR Congo put them in a first final in almost a decade.

More than that, the team have gone from national embarrassment, through restoring respectability and now to the point of being heroes in a few short weeks.

Since their last Afcon win in 2015, Ivory Coast have failed to qualify for two successive World Cup finals, in Russia and Qatar. They also failed to get past the quarter-finals in three straight Afcon appearances, underperforming squads filled with the likes of Wilfried Bony, Jean Michael Seri, Salomon Kalou, Wilfried Zaha and Eric Bailly.

It all makes the scale of this year’s turnaround all the more notable, while victory in the final itself would bring them level with three Afcon triumphs with their opponents, Nigeria. But sometimes in football, in any sport in fact, fairytale stories don’t have that incredible, improbable, unbelievable-yet-believable Hollywood-style ending.

Hitting the back of the net in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals of a major international tournament should, usually, see strikers head into the final itself brimming with confidence and expectant of leading their country to glory.

When that centre-forward has also been one of the game’s elite goalscorers over the past few seasons, even more so. Yet for Nigeria and Victor Osimhen, there’s perhaps instead a lingering sense of frustration, annoyance and unfulfilment, a feeling that he has been thwarted by fractions and unable to be at his explosive best.

How to watch the Afcon final

Nigeria take on hosts Ivory Coast on Sunday 11 February, at 8pm GMT. The game will take place at Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan.

Is the final on TV?

The Afcon final will be broadcast live on BBC Three as well as Sky Sports’ Main Event and Premier League channels.

The previous nine Afcon finals have produced a total of just seven goals. Three of those came in 2017 when Cameroon beat Egypt 2-1.

The last final ended in a goalless draw before Senegal beat Egypt in a penalty shootout.

Ivory Coast also make two changes with both coming in defence.

Captain Serge Aurier comes in for Wilfried Singo at right-back, while at centre half, Odilon Kossounou, who has served his one-match ban after being red-carded in the quarter-final against Mali, replaces Willy Boly.

The 36-year-old Max Gradel continues on the right wing.

Jose Peseiro makes two changes for Nigeria.

Zaidu Sanusi comes in at left wing-back, with Ola Aina moving to the right side and Bright Osayi-Samuel dropping out. Samuel Chukwueze replaces Moses Simon on the right wing after an impressive cameo off the bench in the semi-final.

Ivory Coast XI: Y. Fofana; Aurier, Kossounou, Ndicka, Konan; Kessie, Seri, S. Fofana; Gradel, Haller, Adingra.

Substitutes: B. A. Sangare; Diomande, Singo, Diallo, Lazare, I. Sangare, Boga, Bamba, Pepe, Diakite, Krasso, Kouame.

Nigeria XI: Nwabali; Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Bassey; Aina, Iwobi, Onyeka, Sanusi; Chukwueze, Osimhen, Lookman.

Substitutes: Uzoho; Osayi-Samuel, Awaziem, Omeruo, Yusuf, Aribo, Onyedika, Simon, Musa, Moffi, Iheanacho, Onuachu.