They were born a day apart, raised in the same city and enjoyed prosperous playing careers, and while both Aliou Cisse and Djamel Belmadi are now experiencing similar success as coaches, only one can lift the Africa Cup of Nations in Cairo on Friday.
Cisse was born March 24, 1976, in Senegal, with his Algerian counterpart arriving in the world the following day, in Champigny-sur-Marne. It was in this Parisian suburb, where Cisse moved to at the age of nine, that the pair’s destiny would be shaped.