Manchester United duo Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo went head-to-head as Ivory Coast faced Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations.
While Ruben Amorim and his players at Carrington prepare to end 2025 with a visit from Wolves on Tuesday evening, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo are busy helping their nations at AFCON.
United just about coped without the two attackers in the latest 1-0 win over Newcastle United. In the meantime, Amad and Mbeumo starred in AFCON and both won Player of the Match awards in their opening matches.
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Their second match in the tournament saw the two United stars pitted against each other, and the points were shared in a 1-1 draw.
Amad Diallo scores past Bryan Mbeumo’s Cameroon
Amad starred as a right winger in Ivory Coast’s opening match against Mozambique, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win.
The 23-year-old was on the scoresheet again, scoring past Mbeumo’s Cameroon to take a lead, only for Ghislain Konan to score an own goal and level the scores five minutes later.
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As per SofaScore, Amad earned an 8.3 rating for his performance, the highest of any player on the pitch. Mbeumo also enjoyed another strong performance and picked up a 7.0 rating – the highest of any Cameroon player.
| Match stats | Amad Diallo | Bryan Mbeumo |
| Minutes played | 87 | 90 |
| Touches | 41 | 43 |
| Goals | 1 | 0 |
| Shots attempted | 5 | 3 |
| Passes completed | 95% (21/22) | 85% (17/20) |
| Key passes | 4 | 1 |
| Defensive contributions | 3 | 1 |
Amad was a creative spark for Ivory Coast, completing four key passes and boasting a 95% pass completion rate in the process.
Mbeumo managed three shots and played the full 90 minutes but is yet to score his first goal of the tournament.
Ruben Amorim must pay attention to Amad at right wing
Amorim has explained that Amad is a ‘perfect’ wing-back in his favoured 3-4-2-1 system, and he has thrived there for United in the past 12 months.
But with Amorim tweaking his tactics and experimenting in a 4-3-3 in recent weeks, Amad must be considered for a more advanced role.
READ MORE: Ruben Amorim has just learned how he can unleash the best of both Amad and Bryan Mbeumo at Man Utd
So far at AFCON, Amad has been one of the standout players of the tournament with two goals in two games from the wing.
When he returns to Manchester, he has already earned a shot at trying to lock down a wing position for himself, even if that means competing with Mbeumo for position.
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