Madagascar, who are making their debut in the competition, have qualified for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals after defeating DR Congo on penalties on Sunday.
The Barea made their intentions clear right from the group stage when they beat Burundi and Nigeria to top Group B with seven points.
At the Alexandria Stadium on Sunday, it was Madagascar who opened the scoring through Ibrahim Amada in the 9th minute but Cedric Bakambu responded for the Leopards in the 21st minutes through a close range header, as both sides went for the break on a 1-1 scoreline.
DR Congo dominated much of the second half but left too many spaces behind which the Malagasy team successfully exploited after several attempts to retake the lead by the 77th minute through Faneva Andriatsima.
When it looked like Madagascar would run away with the 2-1 lead, Chancel Mbemba equalised for the Congolese in the 90th minute to drag the meeting into extra time.
The Leopards created more goal chances during the 30-minute period but couldn’t improve the score in their favour, as both teams went for the decisive penalty shootout.
Madagascar successfully transformed 4 spot kicks while DR Congo missed 2 out of 4.
The Barea will meet the winner of the match between Algeria and Guinea.
