Algeria 3-0 Sudan: Mahrez at the double in AFCON opener

Riyad Mahrez scored twice as Algeria made a winning start to their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations campaign, beating 10-man Sudan 3-0 at the Stade Prince Moulay El Hassan.

Former Manchester City star Mahrez netted either side of Salah Adil’s 39th-minute dismissal for a second bookable offence, after a poorly timed challenge on Rayan Ait-Nouri.

And the win was sealed by substitute Ibrahim Maza five minutes from time, seeing Algeria sit atop of Group E ahead of their second group game against Burkina Faso.

Algeria needed just two minutes to get themselves ahead when Mahrez collected Hicham Boudaoui’s improvised backheel before curling the ball into the bottom-left corner.

Sudan responded quickly to going behind, but their chances of a comeback were made even more difficult when Adil was shown a red card, having already been booked for a needless tackle on Ramy Bensebaini just 17 minutes into the contest.

Algeria struggled to make their man advantage count and were forced to wait until just before the hour to register their next shot on target, but Baghdad Bounedjah’s strike from inside the box was brilliantly stopped by the feet of Monged El Neel.

Despite their resolve, Sudan’s defence was eventually breached again when Mohammed Amoura’s sensational outside-of-the-foot pass found Mahrez, who took a touch before coolly slotting home in the 60th minute.

And the win was sealed by Maza’s late strike from Bounedjah’s headed knockdown, with Amoura also hitting the post with a stunning strike from a clever corner routine.

FULL-TIME!

A smooth start for Algeria with a 3-0 win in their opening match. #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 | @tecnomobile pic.twitter.com/kZVT5VxyPV

— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) December 24, 2025

But in the other game in the group, two goals in stoppage time from Georgi Minoungou and Edmond Tapsoba helped Burkina Faso to a dramatic 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea had been reduced to 10 men when Basilio Ndong was sent off in the 50th minute, but they still took the lead through Marvin Anieboh’s 85th-minute strike.

However, Burkina Faso poured men forward as eight minutes of stoppage time were added on, and they were rewarded when Minoungou fired low into the net to level.

And with just seconds remaining, Tapsoba headed in the winner in the 98th minute after goalkeeper Jesus Owono pushed a cross in the direction of the Bayer Leverkusen man.

Data Debrief: Magic Mahrez makes AFCON history for Algeria

With his brace, Mahrez became Algeria’s all-time top scorer at AFCON with eight goals, overtaking Lakhdar Belloumi (six). He has now netted four times and provided two assists in his last four appearances for his national team in all competitions.

Indeed, he matched his total for goal involvements across his 19 previous AFCON outings (two goals and four assists). This was also Mahrez’s sixth brace for Algeria, and his first since October 2021 against Niger in World Cup qualifying.

Mahrez also finished the match with team-high totals for touches in the opposition box (five), pass accuracy (95%) and total crosses (six), as Algeria finished the game with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.98 from their 14 shots, to Sudan’s 0.32 xG from their five attempts.

Algeria have now won their opening match at AFCON for the first time since beating Kenya 2-0 in 2019. They have avoided defeat in their last six AFCON openers (W3 D3), equalling their longest such run, set between 1980 and 1990 (W4 D2).