Sadio Mane was praised for his role in avoiding further chaos at the Africa Cup of Nations final as the Senegal talisman convinced his team-mates to return to the pitch after Morocco were awarded a controversial penalty.
Senegal were angered when, deep into stoppage time, Morocco were awarded a penalty following a VAR review by Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala after Brahim Diaz went down under the challenge of El Hadji Malick Diouf.
It was the second of two late decisions to go against Senegal, after Ismaila Sarr had a goal ruled out for a soft foul on Morocco captain Achraf Hakimin moments before, and the Teranga Lions were led off the pitch by head coach Pape Thiaw.
Former Liverpool winger Mane, who is Senegal’s record scorer and had said before the final that it was going to be his final Africa Cup of Nations, notably remained on the pitch and, following a discussion with former Senegal player El Hadji Diouf, returned to the Senegal dressing room.
After appealing to his team-mates, Senegal remerged onto the pitch – where, following a delay of around 15 minutes, Brahim Diaz fluffed the chance to win the final for Morocco with a dismal ‘Panenka’ penalty that was easily saved by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Senegal won the match in extra time, as Mane won his second Africa Cup of Nations crown and cement his legacy as one of Africa’s greatest ever players. Mane took the armband from Kalidou Koulibaly and Idrissa Geuye to lift the trophy in Rabat.
Afterwards, Mane said he had to act to prevent further damage to the “image” of football. Senegal are likely to face heavy sanctions for their protests and the former Morocco international Hassan Kachloul said “Africa football were losing” before Mane took action.
“Football is something special, the world was watching, the world loves football and I think football is a pleasure so we have to give a good image for football,” Mane said afterwards.
“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 even ten minutes but what can we do? We have to accept that we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened happened.”
The Senegal head coach Thiaw later accepted that he was wrong to bring his players off the pitch and had acted in the “heat of the moment”.
Kachloul told E4: “What I like more than anything, the only player from the Senegalese team was Sadio Mane. That shows the great man he is. He went back to the dressing room and brought those players back. Mane was the man to bring them back on.”
