AFCON press conference canceled in chaotic scenes after controversial final

The drama was not consigned to the pitch in Rabat, as Sadio Mane became African champion for a second time, and the press conferences for Pape Thiaw and Walid Regragui were equally chaotic

Pape Thiaw walked out of his press conference after the AFCON final(Image: Getty Images)

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final will be remembered as one of the most chaotic showpiece occasions in the history of soccer.

Ex-Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Senegal ultimately triumphed in Rabat thanks to Pape Gueye’s strike in extra-time, but that does not begin to tell half the story, with a missed spot-kick in injury-time ensuring the match went beyond 90 minutes, while the Senegalese players came close to storming off the pitch when Morocco was awarded a late penalty.

If not for Mane’s interventions, the team may well have walked off. Instead, they returned after a 14-minute delay, and Brahim Diaz’s Paneka penalty was saved by Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

In alarming scenes, Senegal fans also clashed the police after the Moroccan penalty was awarded.

The chaos was not limited to inside the ground, with the reaction spilling into the post-match press conferences. In fact, Senegal coach Pape Thiaw was booed when he entered the media briefing and then subsequently walked out.

It was Thiaw who had ordered Senegal’s players to leave the pitch, but the rowdy reception he received at the press conference meant he was unable to explain that decision.

Senegal emerged victorious from a dramatic AFCON final(Image: Getty Images)

Several Moroccan journalists walked out of the room at Thiaw’s arrival, while reporters from the two countries clashed, forcing the press conference to be canceled.

Meanwhile, Morocco head coach Walid Regragui claimed Thiaw had brought shame on African soccer. “The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful. A coach who asks his players to leave the field… What Pape did does not honor Africa,” Regragui said.

“He had already started in the [pre-match] press conference. He wasn’t classy. But he is a champion, so he can say whatever he wants.

Mane won his second AFCON title with Senegal on Sunday.(Image: Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP via Getty Images)

“We stopped the match in the eyes of the world for 10 minutes. That didn’t help Brahim. That doesn’t excuse Brahim for the way he hit the penalty. He hit it like that and we have to accept it.

“We were one minute from being African champions. That’s football. It’s often cruel. We missed what for some was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Following calls from some Moroccan journalists for Regragui to resign, he replied: “To win the Africa Cup is not easy.

“We were very close and so everybody is disappointed, but in football you need to come back strong, you need to accept what has happened, you need to be humble and you need to work to do it, inshallah.”