Sadio Mane 'rewarded' comments put in heartbreaking new light after AFCON bombshell

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• Sadio Mané

Sadio Mane felt he had been "rewarded" after taking Senegal back onto the field in the AFCON final only to see his team stripped of the win and Morocco awarded the trophy

Sadio Mane's Senegal has been stripped of its AFCON title(Image: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto)

Liverpool legend Sadio Mane felt his team had been "rewarded" for its handling of the controversial AFCON final - only to now see the result overturned months later.

AFCON organizers have released a bombshell statement explaining why Morocco has been handed a 3-0 win. It strips Mane of what he referred to as the "best trophy of his life" after the game.

Mane was widely praised for his role in ensuring the game resumed after a controversial VAR call against Senegal saw his teammates briefly leave the field. The former Reds star then saw his side take a 1-0 victory in extra time after Morocco's Brahim Diaz missed his penalty in the last minute.

Speaking after the game, Senegal captain Mane spoke at length about his values and the importance of delivering the right image to the world in the showpiece game of African football. He felt his team were eventually "rewarded" for doing the right thing in the face of extraordinary scenes in Morocco.

"Personally, I don’t think it was a penalty," he said. "But if the referee decides, you have to respect it. Everyone wanted to come off. I asked Claude Le Roy for his opinion, and he told me to stay and play.

"Mamadou Niang told me the same thing, as did El Hadji Diouf. So I went and asked everyone to stay. In the end, we were rewarded."

"I think it was the best thing to do," Mané added. “"his is not just football. The most important thing is the people watching.

"It would not have been fair to stop the game like that. We have to give a good image for football. I would rather lose than see something like that happen to our game."

Mane and Senegal won a dramatic and controversial final against Morocco(Image: Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP via Getty Images)

Senegal manager Thiaw apologized, saying: “We shouldn’t have reacted like that,” he said. “We apologize to football. Sometimes you react in the heat of the moment. We accept that referees can make mistakes.”

But Mane's moment of glory has now been erased from the record books in a bombshell ruling by the Confederation of African Football, painting his post-match comments in a heartbreaking new light knowing it was all in vain.

"Today was the match where I had to give everything," Mane said after the game.

"There were no excuses. I told myself that this match could be my last in the AFCON. There was no tomorrow, no day after tomorrow, it was today. I had to give everything."