Ghana reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations as they beat Equatorial Guinea 3-0, but the night was overshadowed by a long delay due to crowd trouble.
Thursday’s match was suspended for around half an hour when the Black Stars supporters had to leave the stands and take refuge behind one of the goals after being bombarded with objects from rival supporters.
Bottles could be seen scattered across the running track which surrounded the pitch, while there were reports of tear gas being fired into the stands in a bid to control the Equatorial Guinea fans.
The referee stopped the match and the players were left waiting in the middle of the pitch to find out if the match would restart, with the Equatorial Guinea players pleading with their fans to calm down.
Plenty of fans left the stadium as the suspension dragged on, while a helicopter hovered over the ground.
Ghana supporters appeared to be escorted away by police through the tunnel, with reports of Equatorial Guinea supporters waiting for them outside the stadium.
Jordan Ayew had put Ghana ahead from the spot before Celtic’s Wakaso fired them 2-0 up in first-half stoppage time. Andre Ayew then looked to have put the result beyond doubt as he added a third with 15 minutes remaining.
The match had eight minutes left to go when the trouble occurred and it looked set to be abandoned, but incredibly was allowed to continue, players clearing bottles off the pitch before the game restarted in the 90th minute. Three minutes of injury-time were played without incident.
Equatorial Guinea only stepped in to host the tournament at the 11th hour after Morocco pulled out due to the Ebola epidemic.
Having never qualified for a World Cup, their only previous African Nations Cup campaign was in 2012 when they reached the quarter-finals.
They went one better than that by knocking Tunisia out in the last eight in the most dramatic of circumstances, but that achievement was soured by Thursday night’s events.
Ghana will now face Ivory Coast in the final in Bata on Sunday, the day after Equatorial Guinea take on DR Congo in the third-fourth place play-off in Malabo.
