Equatorial Guinea and Guinea will fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations when they face off in their Round of 16 fixture at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on Sunday.

Nzalang Nacional surprisingly topped Group A with seven points while thier opponents finished third in Group C which set up the tricky clash.

Head-to-Head facts;

● This will be the first ever AFCON meeting between Equatorial Guinea and Guinea. It will be the third time the National Thunder have faced a nation for a first time at AFCON at this tournament, drawing 1-1 with Nigeria and winning 4-2 vs Guinea-Bissau.

● For a fourth time this century, Guinea’s first AFCON match against an opponent has been in the knockout stages – they have lost each of the previous three (1-2 vs Mali in 2004, 0-5 vs Côte d’Ivoire in 2008 and 0-1 vs Gambia in 2021).

● Equatorial Guinea have reached the knockout stages in all four of their AFCON tournaments (2012, 2015, 2021 and 2023). Since the group stage was introduced in 1963, they are the only nation to play in more than one AFCON and reach the knockouts on every occasion.

● Guinea have lost their last six AFCON games at the knockout stage, failing to score in each of their last four of which two were in the last 16 stage in 2019 (0-3 vs Algeria) and 2021 (0-1 vs Gambia).

● Emilio Nsue has scored five goals at this year’s AFCON for Equatorial Guinea – aged 34, he is the oldest player to ever score 5+ goals in a single AFCON tournament, with Kalusha Bwalya in 1996 for Zambia previously the oldest (five aged 32). The only player to net more than five in a tournament aged 30+ is Egypt’s Hossam Hassan in 1998 (seven goals aged 31).

Equatorial Guinea XI: Owono, Akapo, Bikoro, Buyla, Coco, Ganet, Machin, Ndong, Nsue, Orozco, Salvador.

Subs: Anieboh, Asue, Balboa, Ela, Embela, Eneme, Elo, Nabil, Ondo, Sapunga, Senra, Siafa.

Guinea XI: Kone, Bayo, Camara, Diakhaby, Diakite, Diawara, Guilavogui, Jeanvier, Konate, I Sylla, S Sylla.

Subs: Camara, Camara, Cisse, Cisse, Conte, Guirassy, Kamano, Kante, Keita, Keita, Sow.