Kalidou Koulibaly dedicated his man of the match award to the family of late Senegal great Papa Bouba Diop after guiding Senegal to the last 16 of the World Cup on Tuesday.

On the second anniversary of Diop’s early death after a long illness, the defender scored the game-winning goal to help Senegal beat Ecuador 2-1 and finish second in Group A.

Koulibaly also paid homage to Diop, who was Senegal’s World Cup hero in 2002, by writing Diop’s number 19 on the armband he wears as captain.

Twenty years ago, Diop scored the game-winning goal in Senegal’s shocking 1-0 win over France in the first game of that tournament. This helped Senegal make it to the quarterfinals.

“Today is the anniversary of his death, I will give his family the trophy in his honour,” Koulibaly told reporters.

“We knew the anniversary of his death was something very important, for his family.

“We wanted to pay homage to him, he made me dream when I was a boy.

“We knew we wanted to play in his honour, this wasn’t something we were going to let slip.

“It was important for us as a team to make our families and Papa’s family proud.

“Now we know we need to rest up, keep a cool head, yes we’ve qualified, and yes we can savour the win, but now we need to concentrate.

“We need to show why we are the champions of Africa. We need to rest up and get the best from ourselves in the knockout stages.”

Koulibaly’s goal fired Senegal into the knockout phase for only the second time in their history of the nations participation at the World Cup.

“This was a special day for Senegal, all Senegalese football won today,” Koulibaly said on television after the game.

“I’m glad I scored this goal, it’s a huge honour for me.”

After being taken down by Piero Hincapie in the 44th minute, Ismaila Sarr scored a no-look penalty that put Senegal ahead.

Moises Caicedo’s header for Ecuador got them back in the game, but three minutes later, Chelsea defender Koulibaly scored his first goal for his country in his 67th appearance to send Senegal through.

Koulibaly also sent a message to his friends in Italy, where he played for Napoli for eight years, after landslides hit the island of Ischia near Naples on Monday.

“There were a lot of deaths caused by landslides… I want to dedicate this goal to them today, to give them strength in testing times,” added the 31-year-old.

Photo by EPA/Noushad Thekkayil