Ismael Bennacer of Milan and Napoli winger Adam Ounas are heading back to Serie A early, as reigning champions Algeria crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations, with Franck Kessie on target for the Ivory Coast.
Their situation was already extremely difficult after a dismal run of results in the group phase of the tournament, drawing 0-0 with Sierra Leone and losing 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea.
This evening’s 3-1 defeat to the Ivory Coast proved decisive and the title holders are eliminated.
Bennacer’s Milan teammate Kessie opened the scoring with a well-worked team move, before Ibrahima Sangare and Nicolas Pepe completed the rout.
Algeria also missed a penalty with Youcef Belaili, though Sofiane Bendebka did get a consolation goal.
Now Milan hope to have Bennacer at least on the bench against Juventus this weekend.