Burkina Faso vs. Senegal Predictions: Mane to fire Lions of Teranga into the AFCON final

We've reached the Semi-Final stage of the Africa Cup of Nations and we'll have full previews for both games and the final on site. We've asked our AFCON aficionado OddsTerrier to have a look at the huge match between Burkina Faso and Senegal and pick out two bets for your attention.

Senegal enter this semi-final finally resembling a team with some form at just the right time and the bookies have acknowledged that fact by making them 6/4 favourites to win the tournament and 17/20 to win this match. The draw is around the 2/1 mark and Burkina Faso are long shots at a best priced 5/1. 

Aliou Cissé has a full squad to select from and its likely that Cheikhou Kouyate and Ismaïla Sarr will start here, after impressing from the bench in Senegal's 3-1 win over Equatorial Guinea.

Burkina Faso are likely missing two men named Ouattara in this one. Dango is suspended after scoring and being sent off versus Tunisia and Djibril is a big doubt after suffering an injury in the same game. They should however, be boosted by the return of Bertrand Traore. 

First up we've gone for Senegal in the match result market at 89/100. After a decidedly dodgy start to AFCON 2021 the Lions of Teranga have suddenly kicked into gear. Despite only scoring one disputed penalty in their first three group games, they finished top of Group B mainly thanks to a resolute defensive effort. Once the tournament entered the knock out stages however, the Senegalese have started to find their attacking flair, due to the introduction of Kouyate and Sarr and have scored five goals in just two games. They should have too much here for a Burkina Faso team that, while impressing and claiming some big scalps upon the way, are punching way above their weight here and are probably at the end of their AFCON journey. 

The Stallions have reached the final before, back in 2013, but I can't see them repeating that miracle here. They are averaging just one goal a game and are likely missing two of their forwards due to suspension and injury. 

I'm happy taking the 89/100 on offer at SBK for our main selection.

Our next selection is based around Liverpool star Sadio Mané. The 29-year-old scored Senegal's opening goal from the spot and then despite being injured, started the round of 16 game and scored again. He assisted the first goal for Famara Diédhiou in the Quarters and seems to be getting back to the form he's shown for the Reds earlier in the season.  Mané has scored 60% of all the goals in the Senegalese squad and has 28 goals for his country. He needs just two more to beat Henri Camara's national record.

I'm backing him to grab at least one of those here and will be taking the boosted 5/1 on offer at William Hill.

If you decide to follow any of these selections, please remember to gamble responsibly.