Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé and Aurélien Tchouaméni, plus Barcelona’s Jules Koundé, are in the crowd. Plenty of eyes on this one during La Liga’s Christmas break.

Half-time reading from the Premier League today:

45 min: Cameroon try to break after the Côte d’Ivoire corner is cleared but the defending champions get bodies back. One minute is added.

44 min: Côte d’Ivoire are enjoying a spell. Kessié sends a ball in behind for Amad to chase but Tolo comes across and gets there just in the nick of time to put it out for a corner.

42 min: Big chance for Côte d’Ivoire! Amad cuts inside and floats a ball to the back post. Bayo is there all alone but can only direct the header over the bar.

41 min: A promising Côte d’Ivoire move down the right falls flat as Doué overruns the ball after Amad had carried it forward. The Ivorian right-back isn’t having the greatest game.

39 min: The free-kick comes out to Baleba, who drives toward the area and tries to play a one-two with a teammate but the loose ball is cleared by Côte d’Ivoire.

37 min: Fofana is all right. So is the referee, who actually stayed on his feet. Cameroon win a free-kick on the left after Amad wipes out Kofane and goes into the book.

36 min: The game is stopped after Fofana runs into the referee in midfield and goes down holding his face. Bit much …

33 min: Epassy, the Cameroon goalkeeper, is getting some cloth stuck up his nose after headbutting his own defender at a corner. It seems to have stemmed the flow of blood.

31 min: Amad gives Yongwa the run around on the Côte d’Ivoire right and sends the ball into the area. Kessié prods it on to Seko Fofana but his shot is deflected over.

30 min: Kessié tries to spray a ball out wide with the outside of his boot but it’s easily intercepted. Amad, the intended target, looks less than impressed.

28 min: Mbeumo is getting way too much space. He floats a cross in towards Kofane and it’s cleared behind for a corner that comes to nothing. Good spell, this, for Cameroon.

26 min: Mbeumo’s corner is kept up by a couple of Cameroon players before it comes out to Baleba, whose chest down and shot is spectacularly powerful but spectacularly off target.

25 min: Mbeumo looks in the mood. He wriggles down the Cameroon right and forces a corner.

23 min: Looked like Yahia Fofana got a fingertip on that to divert it on to the bar. Excellent save. Amad is penalised inside his own half for a barge on Namaso.

21 min: Off the bar! Mbeumo finds some space to turn and sets Tchamadeu down the right flank. The wing-back’s cross is low towards the near post and Kofane gets there first and sends the ball against the crossbar. So close for Cameroon.

19 min: Cameroon’s stand-in captain Tolo gets a crucial flick on a Côte d’Ivoire cross to put Kessié off as he went for it at the back post.

17 min: A huge roar goes up as the big screen shows that Kylian Mbappé is in the house – wearing an orange hoodie despite his Cameroonian ancestry.

16 min: Baleba picks up a yellow card for a bit of a lunge on Fofana on halfway. It’s mistimed but nothing more than that.

14 min: Cameroon are getting a bit braver. They sat back for the first few minutes of this one but are now putting some pressure on Côte d’Ivoire in possession. Mbeumo is yet to see much action.

12 min: Big opportunity for Cameroon! It’s wing-back to wing-back as Stoke’s Tchamadeu picks out Yongwa at the back post but his volley hits the side-netting. Up the other end, Kessié sends one over the bar for Côte d’Ivoire.

10 min: Côte d’Ivoire put another ball into the box from a deep free-kick and there’s a shout for handball that falls on deaf ears. Boos and whistles as Cameroon enjoy a bit of possession in their own half.

8 min: Chance for Amad! Diomande jinks inside after the corner comes out and cuts the ball back to Amad on the edge of the penalty area. The Manchester United man tries to bend it inside the near post but his effort flies off target.

6 min: Côte d’Ivoire, in their wonderful all-orange strip, put another ball into the box and Tolo puts it behind for a corner on the stretch.

4 min: A bit of an exciting start. Côte d’Ivoire have settled the quicker.

2 min: Off the post, I think?! Côte d’Ivoire head down the left, Konan swings a cross towards the back post and it looks like it glances off the upright and away from danger.

The teams are out. The day’s fourth game at Afcon is about to get under way. Mozambique, Sudan and Algeria were all winners today … who will join them?

“Hi Billy,” writes Peter Oh. “The amount of talent on display makes me go ‘Whoa!’, with an added ‘Wooh!’ in recognition of the Cameroon bench. I’ve got no idea how this match will go. Will Ivory Coast score Fofana? Will the Indomitable Lions expertly Epassy out from the back and make a Baleba out of the sceptical Cameroon fan?”

And so on and so forth … At least it’s not a lineup of footballers with Christmas-themed names. I saw Edin Dzeko-rations the other day. Bleak.

Cameroon: The Indomitable Lions entered this tournament under the cloud of managerial/bureaucratic chaos. Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroon federation, finally got his wish and the Belgian head coach Marc Brys was dismissed earlier this month. Brys, appointed by the Cameroonian sports ministry last year against the wishes of Eto’o, contested the sacking and picked his own squad for Afcon.

David Pagou, a coach in the Cameroonian domestic league and former assistant with the national team, is now in the dugout. He’s having to do without the injured Napoli midfielder Frank Anguissa and has left senior figures like Vincent Aboubakar and André Onana out of his squad. They beat Gabon in their opener thanks to Karl Etta Eyong’s early goal.

Côte d’Ivoire: The holders won their opening game 1-0 thanks to Amad Diallo’s second-half strike. Emerse Faé is having to fill a Sebastian Haller-sized hole up front. The Utrecht striker’s goals helped fire Les Éléphants to the title two years ago but he’s not in Morocco due to a hamstring injury.

Wilfried Zaha, now playing in MLS with Charlotte, started the first game and now Vakoun Bayo of Udinese gets his chance to lead the line.

Recap: Already in Group F today, Mozambique have beaten Gabon 3-2 to claim their first win at Afcon since 1986 – when their 42-year-old captain, Elias Pelembe, was a toddler.

In Group E, Sudan have given themselves a great chance of progressing to the knockouts with a 1-0 win against Equatorial Guinea. A Riyad Mahrez penalty means Algeria currently lead Burkina Faso 1-0 with around 10 minutes to go.