It was a night of high drama in Rabat, where Senegal edged a dramatic decider 1-0 after Brahim Diaz missed a penalty in the dying seconds of added time at the end of the game and Papa Gueye netted a superb winner in extra-time.
But the game will long be remembered for the incidents on and off the pitch, and not the at-times exhilarating football between the two best teams in the competition.
Morocco’s 50 years of pain since they last lifted the trophy continues, but they bottled it on home soil against a Senegal side who were superior on the night.
Here is a run-down of the major incidents on a night of high drama.
Disputed goal
Things were relatively calm until Senegal thought they had scored the winner in the 93rd minute of the game, when Ismaila Sarr headed into the net after Abdoulaye Seck’s header had crashed back off the crossbar. But referee Jean-Jacques Ndala from DR Congo was very quick to rule it out for a debatable foul by Seck on Achraf Hakimi. Was there enough contact? Did Hakimi go down too easily? Senegal had been frustrated all night by what they perceived as Ndala giving all the 50-50 decisions the home side’s way. This was, in many ways, the flashpoint, and the match disintegrated from here.
Penalty to Morocco
Three minutes later, Diaz went down in the box after an arm around the neck from Senegal defender El Hadji Malick Diouf. The referee initially did not give it, but when called over to the monitor on the sidelines, he signalled for a penalty. You see these given and not given. Diaz made the most of it, but there was contact and, on the balance of things, a penalty was probably the correct call. But then things really kicked off.
Trouble in the stands
The disallowed goal, followed quickly by a penalty to Morocco, enraged the Senegalese fans and many tried to invade the pitch, fighting with security and throwing the chairs of photographers who were seated in front of them. It was ugly, totally uncalled for, and took a long time to quell.
The walk-off
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw had had enough and called his players from the field. Whatever their grievances, this was the wrong call and he must face whatever punishment comes his way. Emotions were at fever pitch, but as a national team coach in the biggest match on the continent, you also have a duty to the game. Luckily, Senegal talisman Sadio Mane saw sense and called them back, after also talking to veteran coach Claude Leroy, who was on the sidelines working for television. Mane deserves enormous credit for his calm intervention.
Diaz duffs it
What it meant was that the penalty to be taken by Diaz did not happen until the 114th minute, some 16 minutes after the spot-kick was awarded. Morocco have several excellent penalty takers in their team; how the process came about to give it to him, we do not know. He was chasing his sixth goal of the tournament and it would have solidified the Golden Boot, which he won in any event. What possessed him to attempt a Panenka penalty, we do not know, but it was woeful and a moment he will have to live with for the remainder of his career and beyond, or certainly until Morocco lift the trophy again.
Rumours swirled in the media tribune inside the stadium that he had missed on purpose as part of a gentleman’s agreement to get the Senegalese players back on the pitch, but this is fanciful and highly unlikely. What is very interesting, though, is that not a single Senegalese player celebrated the penalty save as you would imagine they might have. They simply turned and continued with the game.
Ball boy fights
In the melee ahead of the penalty, the Moroccan players and ball boys tried everything they could to get the towel of Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, which clearly had information on possible penalty takers written on it. Senegal reserve goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf was stationed to protect it and at one point was being dragged along the ground by ball boys trying to get it off him. A goalkeeper for French Ligue 1 side Nice being dragged by ball boys was a surreal sight.
Post-match drama
It was inevitable that after the game there would be further tension. When Senegal coach Thiaw arrived for the post-match press conference, he was booed loudly by Moroccan journalists and walked out without it ever taking place. There were also fights in the media tribune, which should be a sterile, professional environment.
The long game
In all, the final took 151 minutes of playing time to complete, a little more than two-and-a-half hours. The repercussions will be heavy from CAF, most likely for Senegal, and to an extent they will have to take their medicine, no matter their feelings towards the referee.
The drama had actually started in the days before the final, when the Senegalese Football Federation took the unusual step of releasing a statement criticising the organisation ahead of the match and pointing out various things they were unhappy with, security, accommodation, training venues and a small allocation of tickets for their fans being the main ones. Tension was already in the air before the dramatic showdown at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
