Topics: Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Africa Cup of Nations
The Elephants were embarrassed on home soil and appear destined to crash out of the tournament in the group stage.

Monday saw one of the most iconic Africa Cup of Nations matches in history take place.

Ivory Coast, the hosts that announced themselves as one of the favorites following their 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau in the opening game, took on group leaders Equatorial Guinea needing a positive result to secure progression to the knockout stage.

The Elephants are the hosts and as a result, many predicted the two-time champions to translate this home advantage into a victory over the impressive Nzalang Nacional.

However, the unthinkable unfolded instead. Not only did the continental powerhouses lose to the Group A minnows, but Ivory Coast suffered one of their most humiliating losses, going 4-0 down against a team that had previously never made it out of the group stage in this tournament.

Equatorial Guinea captain Emilio Nsue, who made history with his hat-trick against Guinea-Bissau in their previous fixture, took center stage once again, scoring twice in this match and taking his tally in the tournament to five goals.

The 34-year-old striker, who often plays as a right-back for his Primera Federación club CF Intercity, broke the deadlock shortly before halftime. The skipper then completed his brace in the 75th minute straight after the restart following Pablo Ganet's stunning free-kick goal in the 73rd minute that doubled Equatorial Guinea's lead.

This stunning free kick doubled Equatorial Guinea's lead (videos are geo-restricted) 

Emilio Nsue completed his brace with this effort immediately after the restart (videos are geo-restricted)

An error from the Ivory Coast goalkeeper in the 88th minute only made things worse as the Elephants conceded a fourth goal en route to an embarrassing 4-0 win, making this the nation's heaviest-ever home defeat.

Furthermore, this is the country's largest defeat in Africa Cup of Nations history, having never lost a game in this tournament by a four-goal margin. And to make things worse, Nicolas Pepe and Co. are now facing a group-stage exit.

The top two spots in each group secure automatic progression to the round of 16 and those went to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, with the Super Eagles beating Guinea-Bissau 1-0 in their final match. Meanwhile, the four best third-placed teams also qualify for the next round but Ivory Coast find themselves in a precarious situation following this result.

The hosts are currently the highest-ranked third-placed team in the competition. However, with only three points to their name and a horrible goal difference, they are at risk of being leapfrogged by every other side should their rivals — which includes Ghana, Cameroon, Algeria, and Zambia — win their final group-stage games.