Libreville — Mali were the first to admit they did not convince in getting past co-hosts Gabon and taking an African Nations Cup semi-finals berth, but made no apologies for their progress.

Mali were fortunate to survive Gabon twice hitting the woodwork in Sunday's quarter-final in Libreville, before scoring an equaliser six minutes from the end to take the match to extra time and an eventual penalty shootout win.

While coach Alain Giresse raised eyebrows by suggesting his team were the better of the two sides, top Mali midfielder Seydou Keita brought some perspective to the analysis of the match afterwards.

"It was not easy but we realised our objective of getting a result. We did the best we could and the first thing was to win. We were not perfect, it was not Barcelona or Brazil but we played to a plan and eventually we did it."

Now lying ahead for Mali is the might of Cote d'Ivoire, who traditionally have had the upper hand over "Les Aigles".

"We know them quite well, but it will be a lot different meeting them in a semi-final than it would be in an ordinary qualifying match," said Keita. "If we have the mentality that we believe we can do it, then it is possible," added the runner-up in last year's African Footballer of the Year poll.

"The Ivorians are the favourites... All the pressure will be on them. There is none on us, we have nothing to lose."

Gabon's elimination is a major dampener for the tournament, just when the host country was whipping up a fever of expectation.

"It was difficult to lose like this, especially when we were just six minutes away from the semi-final," said Gabon coach Gernot Rohr in the wake of the penalty shootout.

"The team gave a lot physically in the pool games and they were tired. Our local players were not used to the intensity of all these group games but my team gave everything."