Morocco knock Ivory Coast out of Afcon

                     Morocco celebrate after Rachid Alioui scores in the second half


Morocco beat Ivory Coast 1-0 to reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals and knock out the champions.

Rachid Alioui scored with a terrific shot from 25 yards to
 earn the win for Morocco and their coach Herve Renard,
 who led the Ivorians to the 2015 title.

Ivory Coast needed a win to go through but gave a
 list less performance, creating only two chances of note.

Wilfried Zaha shot weakly from 12 yards, while Salomon Kalou's header from a tight angle clipped a post.

The Elephants lacked urgency in their play and go home
 after appearing not to put up a fight.

Even after going behind they were unable to cause the organised and disciplined Morocco defence any problems.

Morocco went into the game knowing that a draw was
 very likely to be enough for them to qualify from Group C 
and their game plan from the start was to stay compact
 and hit on the counter- attack.

It served to frustrate their opponents, who opted for the
 long-held approach on a shocking pitch and failed to find 
any penetration.

Morocco could have added a second on the counter
-attack but 19-year-old full-back Hamza Mendyl shot
 into the side nothing after running half the length of the
 pitch.

They will play the winner of Group D in the last eight 
on Sunday.

DR Congo are also through from Group C, finishing top of
 the table after beating Togo 3-1.