Bensebaini and Algeria set for AFCON opener

Borussia left-back Ramy Bensebaini will play his first AFCON group game on Tuesday (14:00 CET in Cameroon), as Algeria open their campaign against Sierra Leone.

After being postponed by a year, the Africa Cup of Nations will take place from 9th January to 6th February. Bensebaini (Photo: imago images / Zuma Press) and Algeria will be looking to defend their title from 2019. ‘Les Verts’ will open their campaign against fellow Group E members Sierra Leone on Tuesday (14:00 CET), before facing Equatorial Guinea (16th January, 20:00 CET) and Ivory Coast (20th January, 17:00 CET).

As a result, Bensebaini will miss the upcoming Bundesliga games against Bayer Leverkusen (15th January, 18:30 CET) and against Union Berlin (22nd January, 15:30 CET). He will also miss the second-round DFB-Pokal match at Hannover 96 on Wednesday, 19th January (18:30 CET). Should Algeria advance to the semi-finals, Bensebaini will likely also miss the match against Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday, 5th February (15:30 CET).