A 2023 Africa Cup of Nations coach has spoken on his side's "miraculous" run to the semi-finals at the tournament.
Interim Ivory Coast manager Emerse Fae stepped in following the abrupt departure of former boss Jean-Louis Gasset after the side's underwhelming group-stage performances that saw them take just three points from as many matches.
Read: Super Eagles get surprise boost ahead of crunch Bafana tie
Gasset tendered his resignation after the Elephants' 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea as their chances of making it to the round of 16 looked grim.
Other results, however, went their way and the team found themselves in the knockout stage of the competition courtesy of being one of the four best third-placed teams after the group stage.
They then went on to beat Senegal in a tense penalty shootout that ended 5-4 in their favour, booking their spot in the quarter-finals.
Ivory Coast are now set to face DR Congo in the semi-finals of the continental competition after beating Mali in remarkable fashion, coming back from being a goal down to beating Les Aigles 2-1.
Fae, speaking at a pre-match press conference, revealed how his team's strong mindset helped them overcome the obstacles they had faced to get to where are they are today.
"We are aware that we have made a spectacular recovery, that when you look at the Mali game we survived miraculously," he said, per Sportstar.
"We will garner strength from that and tell ourselves that our mindset is good.
"It is that mindset which allows us to pull off miracles like that, but we are not going to relax and say that because we won miraculously it means it is our destiny that we are going to win the trophy.
"The miracle against Mali did not fall out of the sky, it did not just happen like that, it happened because the players kept on fighting and believing until the end."
Read: African icon hails DStv Prem star for his AFCON displays
Ivory Coast and DR Congo have previously faced one another in the competition on five occasions. The last time the two sides met was a semi-final encounter at AFCON 2015, when the Elephants won the game 3-1 before going on to lift the trophy that year.
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
WATCH: