Barcelona star shines in Ivory Coast's 2-1 friendly win over Togo

The Elephants of Ivory Coast hosted The Sparrow Hawks on Togo in a friendly at the Stade Robert Diochon, Le Petit Quevilly, France on Saturday, September 24, 2022.

Jean-Louis Gasset's men were expected to win this fixture as they came into this fixture as strong favourites.

Ivory Coast fielded out a strong starting XI with Crystal Palace forward Wilfred Zaha leading the attack with support from West Ham's attacking summer signing Maxwell Cornet, while Barcelona's midfield summer signing Franck Kessie was present in the midfield.

Neither side failed to find the opener in the first-half after playing out a stalemate in the opening 45.

However, it was a different story in the second half as Ivory Coast opened the scoring in the 60th minute after RC Lens midfielder Seko Fofana found the back of the net to give the men in orange the 1-0 lead.

The Elephants continued to dominate and soon doubled their advantage after they were awarded a penalty less than 10 minutes from the opener.

Frenck Kessie stepped up and slotted past Wassiou Ouro-Gneni to give his side a comfortable 2-0 advantage.

However, Togo would battle hard for a response and eventually pull a goal back in the 85th minute after Karim Dermane found the back of the net with the 18-year-old Jong Feyenoord midfielder giving his side a fighting chance.

But it was too little too late as the Elephants held on for the win as it finished 2-1 in their favour at the Stade Robert Diochon.