Nigeria v Ivory Coast: Africa Cup of Nations final – live

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Abidjan. Twenty-five days ago, in the 87th minute of his side’s final group game, Zambia’s Barbra Banda whistled a rising drive from 25 yards that was dramatically tipped over the bar by the Morocco keeper Bono. Had it gone in, Zambia would have qualified as one of the best third-placed teams and the hosts Ivory Coast – who had already sacked their manager Jean-Louis Gasset – would have gone out in disgrace.

Instead they sneaked through to the knockout stages, where they dodged several bullets against Senegal and Mali before beating DR Congo in the semi-finals. Now they, and their caretaker manager Emerse Fae, are one game away from a peculiarly glorious triumph.

During the tournament Ivory Coast have been behind for 194 minutes, including 35 in a group-stage defeat to tonight’s opponents, and ahead for 115. Nigeria have been ahead for 225 and behind for only 2 – but they had an almighty escape of their own when South Africa’s Khuliso Mudau missed an injury-time sitter to win the semi-final.

So, whose destiny is it anyway? We’re about to find out. Either Nigeria will join Ghana on four titles, behind only Egypt and Cameroon, or Ivory Coast will join Nigeria on three.

Kick off 8pm.