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The Ivorian authorities have not yet commented on claims it hosted the plotters but the Burkinabe junta has often blamed its southern neighbour of supporting its opponents in exile.

After becoming the first Ivorian to pass the entrance exam to France's prestigious Polytechnique engineering school, he returned to Ivory Coast and took up politics.

But this year the organisers of the Ivorian competition are shaking things up right from the start.

According to Florence Edwige Nanga, a hair and scalp specialist in the main Ivorian city of Abidjan, this is often still the case in Ivory Coast.

After grabbing the match ball and acknowledging the adulation of all four sides of Old Trafford, the Ivorian was dragged to the portable broadcast table quickly erected pitchside to talk about his momentous achievement, equalising eight minutes from the end of what had been a tepid performance before scoring twice in stoppage time to give United victory.