Despite beating the clock to earn a spot in Cameroon’s African Cup of Nations opening, goalkeeper Andre Onana was allegedly left out of the squad and had to be pacified by former Senegal great El Hadji Diouf.

In an effort to be with the Cameroon side for the match, Onana had gone the 5,000-mile distance.

Following his Sunday appearance in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham at Old Trafford, the goalkeeper departed for Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the late afternoon in order to board an aircraft to Ivory Coast.

He had to reroute to Abidjan because the weather was too foggy to land in Yamoussoukro, the site of Cameroon’s Group C campaign opener on Monday.

Driving the last 150 miles of his 5,000-mile odyssey, the 27-year-old finally arrived three hours before the 5pm kιck-off at the Stade Charles Konan Banny.

Although Cameroon’s Fabrice Ondoa was already a lock for the starting goalkeeper position, Onana nevertheless named Devis Epassy and Simon Ngapandouetnbu as substitutes for the 1-1 tie with Guinea.

Images taken of Onana before the game revealed the goalkeeper talking to Diouf.

After being booted out of the squad entirely, Diouf allegedly had to step in and calm Onana down.

The goalkeeper allegedly questioned the purpose of boarding the private plane if he was not going to be a part of it.

Samuel Eto’o, head of the football federation, and Rigobert Song, boss of Cameroon, have had tense relationships with Onana.

After what was supposedly an argument with Song over Song’s goalkeeping style, the former Ajax goalie was sent home from their World Cup camp in Qatar fourteen months ago.

After being expelled, Onana announced his retirement from international competition. However, he reversed his decision last year so he could participate in the AFCON.

Song downplayed the significance of Onana’s exclusion from the match team.

He showed up at four in the morning, so it makes sense. What role do you prefer him to play? It was Song who added, “He’s part of the group.”

In the first match of the tournament, Guinea held five-time champions Cameroon to a 1-1 draw.

After Guinea took an unexpecteԀ lead through Mohamed Bayo in the 10th minute, captain Francois Kamano was sent off for a stamp in the first half’s stoppage time.

Frank Magri, who had been struck by the stamp, scored Cameroon’s equalizer in the second half from a cross by Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.