Arsenal held Liverpool to a battling goalless draw despite Granit Xhaka’s early red card in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

With the tie finally getting under way seven days after its original date, following last week’s postponement, Xhaka managed to last just 24 minutes at Anfield before being sent off for a reckless last-man challenge on Diogo Jota.

However, thanks to a brilliant defensive display, and a slightly underwhelming Liverpool performance, Arsenal will be hopeful ahead of the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in seven days.

The winner will face Chelsea in the final at Wembley at the end of February, after Thomas Tuchel’s side completed a 3-0 aggregate victory over Tottenham on Wednesday.

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AC Milan came from behind to defeat fellow Serie A side Genoa after extra time in the Coppa Italia last 16.

Brighton loanee Leo Skiri Ostigard had given Genoa a surprise first-half lead, but former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud headed in from Theo Hernandez’s cross to force extra time.

In the 102nd minute, Rafael Leao put Milan ahead for the first time.

Hernandez set up Alexis Saelemaekers to score Milan’s third goal and take Stefano Pioli’s side through.

Milan, second in Serie A, have won the Coppa Italia five times, with their last success being in 2003, and they now face either Lazio or Udinese at home in the quarter-final in February.

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The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has dismissed a formal complaint lodged by Tunisia’s football federation (FTF) about their game with Mali ending 13 seconds early.

In a statement, CAF said the Africa Cup of Nations organising committee met on Thursday and rejected the protest but gave no further explanation.

Caf also confirmed the result of Wednesday’s game as a 1-0 win to Mali, which was the score when Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe, said to have suffered sunstroke, blew early.

He had already whistled for full-time after 85 minutes, only to notice his error and continue the match.

Earlier on Thursday, FTF official Hussein Jenaieh had insisted: “We will do whatever it takes to defend the rights of the national team. We are not children.”

FTF media officer Kais Reguez refused to go into details when asked about the nature of Tunisia’s complaint, which he did confirm.

Match referee Sikazwe reportedly had to go to hospital to recover after the match, which is why the fourth official was set to take charge of a failed attempt to restart the game over 20 minutes later.

While Mali turned up, Tunisia did not, since some of their players were taking ice baths.

“The referee had sunstroke, which affected his decisions in the game,” Caf refereeing official Essam Abdul Fattah told Egyptian media. “After the game, he needed to go hospital because the weather was so hot.”

After their unexpected 0-0 draw against Sierra Leone, defending champions Algeria blamed their display on the heat in Cameroon.

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