The matchup between Senegal’s Aliou Cisse and Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi, two coaches from the same Paris area, will decide the winner of the Africa Cup of Nations on Friday.
In the lead-up to Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations final, longtime friends Aliou Cisse and Djamel Belmadi square off for a chance at making history.
With just one loss between them, Cisse’s Senegal and Belmadi’s Algeria have been without a question the two standout teams at the 2019 AFCON.
The Teranga Lions suffered the lone defeat in the group stage, falling to Algeria 1-0; Senegal now has the chance to exact retribution.
But don’t anticipate Cisse to act out of retaliation due to their prior rivalry in Ligue 1; he and Belmadi are well acquainted with one another.
Both coaches were raised in the same Champigny-sur-Marne neighborhood of Paris, and Cisse, who was born in Senegal, is only one day older than his counterpart.
The two had fought frequently when they were younger, in French domestic football as well as at the AFCON as players, and now they square off once more with historic accomplishments on the line; Senegal hopes to win the competition for the first time, while Algeria has never won the trophy without being the hosts.
On Thursday, Belmadi told reporters, “I haven’t spoken to Aliou.” “Right now is not the appropriate time to talk; however, we will do so after the game. There won’t be any issues before or after the game either.
The two young people who grew up together in Champigny-Sur-Marne competing against one another in the final is incredibly ironic. We ought to look back in history to see if something similar has ever occurred.
In Paris, when we were small boys, we used to play together. We shared the same city as children.
“It’s incredible that we are now in charge of leading our national teams. Fate led us to this conclusion. It has a distinctive flavor.
