A history of the Reds at AFCON

Quinton Fortune, signed in 1999, had been part of the South Africa squad that fell just short of defending their continental title in the previous year and the versatile Red was back for the Bafana Bafana in the year 2000.

It was a peripatetic winter for Fortune, who travelled to the tournament fresh off the back of scoring twice for United against South Melbourne in the Club World Cup in Brazil.

Seemingly unaffected by jet-lag, Quinton started five straight games for the 1996 champions, as they topped their group and beat one co-host, Ghana, in the quarter-final, before falling to the other, Nigeria, at the semi-final stage.

Fortune had the consolation of a bronze medal, claimed following a penalty-shootout victory over Tunisia, although he was not involved in the third-place play-off itself, presumably having been awarded a deserved rest before jetting back to England to help United in our bid to reclaim the Premier League crown.

Two years later, South Africa suffered a surprise quarter-final exit to Mali and that was Fortune's last AFCON involvement, as he was not selected for Tunisia’s event in 2004.

Eric Djemba-Djemba continued the run of United interest, as Cameroon hoped to complete a third consecutive triumph, but the Indomitable Lions were eliminated by Nigeria in the last eight and the hosts went on to lift the trophy.

Supporters were afforded a first look at new striker Manucho in 2008, as the Angolan had just been snapped up from Petro Atletico prior to Christmas.

Work-permit issues meant the 24-year-old wouldn’t make his Reds bow until later in the year, but he impressed in Ghana, scoring four times before his side were eliminated by eventual champions Egypt.

Despite never really making his mark n in England, Manucho retired in 2019 after netting 22 times for his country, with nine of those coming at AFCON tournaments.

We had to wait a further nine years to have a player involved in the competition, with Eric Bailly part of an Ivory Coast side defending its crown.

The centre-back, who has recently rejoined Villarreal, featured in all three group games in Gabon, but the Elephants surprisingly failed to make it past the first hurdle, a 1-0 defeat to Morocco sealing their fate after draws with Togo and DR Congo.

After missing summer 2019’s edition through injury, Bailly was back to give it another try last time out, in a tournament delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ivory Coast did make it out of the group but were beaten on penalties by Egypt in the last 16 – to make it worse, Bailly missed the decisive spot-kick.

Hannibal – who has just signed for Sevilla on loan for the rest of the season – was also involved at the tournament in Cameroon, for Tunisia.

The Eagles of Carthage made it past Nigeria in the first knockout round but Burkina Faso did for them in the quarter-finals, although the young Red was an unused substitute for three of his team’s five matches.

Fortune’s third-placed finish in 2000 is still the best a current United player has managed at AFCON, but can Sofyan Amrabat or Andre Onana top that this time?

Amrabat’s involvement begins on Wednesday evening, as Morocco face Tanzania, while Onana is yet to feature for Cameroon, who drew 1-1 with Guinea in their first match.