An exiciting game is on the cards in the Round of 16 as the first ever TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations meeting between Equatorial Guinea and Guinea takes places at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on Sunday.

Nzalang Nacional surprisingly topped Group A with seven points while thier opponents finished third in Group C which set up the tricky clash. 

Below are the match facts:

• This will be the first ever CAF Africa Cup of Nations meeting between Equatorial Guinea and Guinea. It will be the third time the National Thunder have faced a nation for a first time at AFCON at this tournament, drawing 1-1 with Nigeria and winning 4-2 vs Guinea-Bissau.
• For a fourth time this century, Guinea’s first CAF Africa Cup of Nations match against an opponent has been in the knockout stages – they have lost each of the previous three (1-2 vs Mali in 2004, 0-5 vs Côte d'Ivoire in 2008 and 0-1 vs Gambia in 2021).
• Equatorial Guinea have reached the knockout stages in all four of their CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournaments (2012, 2015, 2021 and 2023). Since the group stage was introduced in 1963, they are the only nation to play in more than one AFCON and reach the knockouts on every occasion.
• Guinea have lost their last six CAF Africa Cup of Nations games at the knockout stage, failing to score in each of their last four of which two were in the last 16 stage in 2019 (0-3 vs Algeria) and 2021 (0-1 vs Gambia).
• Equatorial Guinea have scored nine goals at the 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations so far, only two fewer than they netted in their first three editions combined (11 goals in 15 games in 2012, 2015 and 2021). They’ve converted 36% of their efforts in 2023 (9/25) compared to just 8% in those three previous editions (11/143).
• Guinea have scored just four goals in their last eight AFCON matches (W2 D2 L4), never scoring more than once in any of these games.
• Equatorial Guinea have scored four goals in each of their last two CAF Africa Cup of Nations games (4-2 vs Guinea-Bissau, 4-0 vs Côte d'Ivoire), the first side to do so since Zambia in 1996; no one has ever done so in three AFCON games in a row.
• Equatorial Guinea were the top scoring team in the group stage with nine goals, and via an expected goals tally of 3.97 they posted the biggest difference between goals scored and expected goals coming into the knock-out rounds (+5.03).
• José Machín has assisted in all three of his 2023 CAF Africa Cup of Nations appearances for Equatorial Guinea, only the third player on record (2010 onwards) with an assist in three consecutive appearances at AFCON, along with Yaya Touré (2012, Côte d'Ivoire) and Martin Hongla (2022, Cameroon). No one has done so in four in a row in that time.
• Emilio Nsue has scored five goals at this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations for Equatorial Guinea – aged 34, he is the oldest player to ever score 5+ goals in a single AFCON tournament, with Kalusha Bwalya in 1996 for Zambia previously the oldest (five aged 32). The only player to net more than five in a tournament aged 30+ is Egypt’s Hossam Hassan in 1998 (seven goals aged 31).