Senegal beat Morocco to win the Africa Cup of Nations in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, but victorious manager Pepe Thiaw has been branded ‘shameful’ by his opposite number after a wild final in Rabat.
There were chaotic scenes late in the goalless game when Morocco were awarded a penalty in stoppage time by referee Jean Jacques Ndala.
With the tournament being played in Morocco, Senegal felt they were being unfairly treated, already frustrated that Ismaila Sarr saw a goal chalked off earlier in the contest.
So angry was Thiaw that he dragged his team off the pitch, delaying the final for around 17 minutes as fights broke out in the stands.
The protest eventually came to an end, but the drama didn’t, as Morocco’s Brahim Diaz then took the penalty, tried a Panenka, and saw his effort comfortably held by Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
That saw the match go into extra-time, where Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye scored a brilliant winner for Senegal, who held onto their 1-0 lead and won the tournament for a second time.
The drama wasn’t quite finished there, though, with Morocco coach Walid Regragui hitting out at Thiaw for his mid-match protest.
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‘The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful,’ Regragui told a post-match press conference.
‘A coach who asks his players to leave the field… What Pape did does not honour Africa. He wasn’t classy. But he is a champion, so he can say whatever he wants.’
Thiaw admitted that he was wrong to pull his players off the field, telling BeIN Sport: ‘I apologise for football. After reflection, I had them come back. Sometimes, you can react in the heat of the moment. We shouldn’t have done it but it’s done and now we present our apologies to football.’
Senegal captain and Liverpool legend Sadio Mane had tried to keep his teammates on the pitch during the protest and admitted it was ‘really bad’ to walk off.
‘Football is something special, the world was watching, so we have to give a good image for football,’ he said.
‘I think it would be crazy to not play this game because what, the referee gave a penalty and we go out of the game? I think that would be the worst thing especially in African football. I’d rather lose than this kind of thing happen to our football.
‘I think it’s really bad. Football should not stop for 10 minutes but what can we do? We have to accept what we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened happened.’
Having scored the only goal of the game, Gueye said: ‘We had a feeling of injustice. Just before the penalty we thought we should have had a goal and the referee didn’t go to VAR.
‘Sadio [Mane] told us to come back on and we remobilised. Edouard [Mendy] then made the save, we stayed focused, got the goal and won the game.’
