The final of the African Cup of Nations between Morocco and Senegal descended into ridicule at the end of regulation time this Sunday in Rabat.
Unprecedented scenes which are very damaging to the image of football. The final of the African Cup of Nations turned into a moment of electric tension on Sunday, when the Senegal players wanted to leave the field to protest against a penalty awarded in the last seconds to their opponents, but the Moroccans missed it and the Senegalese won after extra time.
Because after twenty minutes of confusion, Brahim Diaz sent his completely failed soft panenka into the arms of Edouard Mendy… The Real Madrid player had been the actor triggering the psychodrama which disrupted the CAN 2025 final.
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The Senegalese leave the pitch
Hero of Morocco for having scored in every match up to and including the quarter-final, Diaz had loudly demanded a penalty for a slight collision with El-Hadj Malick Diouf in the final seconds of regulation time. The Senegalese defender put his hand on his neck, but the Madrilenian clearly accentuated his fall. Then, he contested with the linesman and the central referee, demanding consultation of the VAR.
Under the thunder of the Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium in Rabat, the Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo, protected by the police and under pressure from members of the two selections, went to stand in front of the small video screen himself. He judged that there was indeed a foul and ordered the penalty amid immense clamor. And triggered the fury of the Senegalese.
In a tournament where accusations of arbitration favorable to the organizing country had already been raised, the Lions of Teranga, mad with rage, began to leave the pitch, commanded by their coach Pape Thiaw. But their leader Sadio Mané seemed against this decision. Seen in deep discussions on the edge of the pitch with Moroccan coach Walid Regragui and former Senegal coach (1988-1992) Claude Le Roy, present as a TV consultant, the Senegalese N.10 asked his teammates to come back.
Sadio Mané reminds everyone
“Sadio came to ask me what I would do in his place, I told him: + I would ask your teammates to come back +, quite simply”told the “Blonde Wizard” to AFP. We then saw Mané, already the hero of the victory at CAN 2022 and still the hero of the semi-final, the only scorer against Egypt (1-0), running back to pick up his teammates who had already returned to the locker room.
On the pitch and in the stands, tension was at its height. The police set up a blockade at the foot of the green, yellow and red stand of the Lions supporters, the famous group of the “Twelfth Gaindé” (gaindé means lion in Wolof), some with their bodies painted in these colors of the national flag.
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Seat throws and tensions in the stands
Seats were thrown onto the pitch, and some supporters even tried to enter the field. At the microphone, the stadium announcer launched a message, in French then in English: “We ask fans to remain calm before we can continue with the match.”
In the press gallery, representatives of different Moroccan and Senegalese media came to blows, AFP journalists noted. It was in this immense confusion that Brahim Diaz took the penalty. But the competition’s top scorer (five goals) completely missed his move. The match had just turned into a dispute which will go down in the legend of the African Cup.
