Seydou Keita has revealed that the Mali team refused their qualification bonuses after they reached the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The midfielder has claimed that the gesture was to demonstrate their commitment to their country.

"The players refused to receive a bonus for qualifying for this tournament to demonstrate how much we love our country," he told SuperSport.

"This is a very young group and I must say to the people of Mali that we love our country and we are very happy to come to this tournament to represent them.

"We qualified to this stage for the people of Mali and we will want them to continue to support us."

Mali take on Gabon in the last eight on Sunday.