'He's a good lad' - Amad Diallo hails Bryan Mbeumo as Man Utd team-mates swap shirts after AFCON clash between Ivory Coast and Cameroon

After scoring in Ivory Coast's 1-0 win over Mozambique last week in their AFCON opener, the 23-year-old was at it again with a terrific curled effort on Sunday. It was not enough to secure another three points as a Ghislain Konan own goal ensured both countries shared the spoils. After the match, the pair swapped jerseys, before Amad revealed that the two spoke before the big match.

He told reporters, "Bryan is a good teammate; good lad. We talked before the game. I told him after the game, we can change jerseys. He is a good lad and I wish him all the best with Cameroon. I want to think about myself, about my team, and try to win the last game. 

"It's a good goal, but I don't think it's one of the best. I was happy - I wanted to win the game especially, but the goal [does have some significance] for me."

Both Cameroon and Ivory Coast are on four points in their group heading into their final fixture. If they don't lose, they will progress to the next round.

Amad was also asked about what it was like to be involved in a game between West African rivals and matches between Manchester City and United. While both are huge events in their own right, the wing-back said they are different beasts. 

He said, "It's different. We are talking about Africa, so it's different. Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon are big nations. This game was a big game. Cameroon have quality in the team. Bryan and Carlos Baleba play in the Premier League, so we knew in the beginning that it was going to be very tough to win this game. We were unlucky to draw the game, so now, we're going to focus on the next game against Gabon and try to win that game."

Not long after Mbeumo swapped Brentford for United over the summer in a £71 million ($95.5m) transfer, Red Devils head coach Ruben Amorim lauded the impact of the winger at Old Trafford. Among other things, the Portuguese was mightily impressed by his quality and work rate.

He told reporters, "He’s a working machine. He’s so good in transitions. He’s improving when we are organising the final third. The connection with Amad, it’s really hard to beat these two guys because they change position, they are really fast, they are good in one against one. My role was, as a manager, to explain what I want from him. But it was more the club. And you guys. We can struggle a lot, but it’s Manchester United. When Manchester United is there, and when we feel that this player wants to come here, no matter what, no matter what the position, no matter if it's Champions League or not, we also give everything to bring these kind of guys, and that was the case."

In addition to not being able to call on Amad and Mbeumo, United are also without defender Noussair Mazraoui, who is representing Morocco. The Red Devils beat Newcastle United last week and are up to sixth in the league, but Amorim made it clear that his side will miss these players over the winter period.

"We will have time to suffer. We are going to struggle a little bit, but we already knew it's going to be an opportunity," he said. "When I watch the training, there are players that should be playing, but it's hard with one game to take some players from the team, because they are doing well also during the training in games. So other players are going to have the opportunity to help us. They are understanding the way we want to play, so if we are improving on that, the change of characteristics is not going to change the idea or the momentum of the team. But let's use Amad and Bryan in these games and we will see in general."