Senegal star Sadio Mane explained why he disobeyed his coach Pape Thiaw’s diktat to walk off in the AFCON final as Moroccan manager Walid Regragui accused him of hurting Africa’s image.
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw has been accused of hurting Africa’s image by his Moroccan counterpart Walid Regragui, as he
nearly orchestrated a walkout in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final at Rabat on Sunday after a controversial penalty call. Thiaw lost his anger after hosts Morocco were handed a penalty in the last minute of the injury-time in normal time.
The involvement of VAR played its role in sparking the controversy as Thiaw signalled for his players to leave the pitch. With virtually no time left in the match, a goal for Morocco would have sealed the deal for the North African country, but as fate would have it, Real Madrid’s Brahim Díaz missed from the post with a weak ‘Panenka’ attempt and Senegal went on to clinch the trophy with
Pape Gueye scoring the winner in added time.
🇸🇳 Pape Thiaw demande à ses joueurs de quitter le terrain.#CAN2025 #MARSEN #SENMAR pic.twitter.com/vzRrHtVASo
— Brut Afrique (@BrutAfrique) January 18, 2026
But before the penalty, it was Senegal’s star Sadio Mane, the player of the tournament, who played a crucial role in bringing his teammates back to the pitch. Had Mane not shown some maturity, the trophy would have been sitting in Morocco’s cabinet by now.
Mane explains why he disobeyed Senegal coach
Explaining the decision to disobey his coach’s diktat, Sane said that the whole world was watching them, and it was their duty to finish the game.
“I think it was the best thing to do because this is just football,” Sane said after the match. “The referee sometimes can make mistakes, it can also be just…we don’t know. People will judge this. But it could be a penalty or not. But that’s not more important. More importantly, it’s about people who are watching; the world is watching this football.
🎙️🇸🇳 Sadio Mane: “It was really important to play this game even though we could have won, we could have lost”#AFCON2025 pic.twitter.com/hrGVXQuRzD
— Eric Njiru- #AFCON2025⚽️ (@EricNjiiru) January 19, 2026
“It’s not fair to stop football like this. I think it was really important to play the match, even though we could have won or lost, it doesn’t matter, but football should be played.”
Walid Regragui of Morocco, meanwhile, blasted Senegalese coach Pape Thiaw for dishonouring Africa.
“The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful,” Regragui said. “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 apologises after accusation of hurting Africa’s image
Thiaw also apologised for his actions after winning the trophy as he admitted his guilt.
“After thinking about it, I realised that I shouldn’t have asked them to go off. I apologise for that,” he said. “Sometimes you can react in the heat of the moment. Before that, we scored a goal that was not given. But now we accept that referees do make mistakes and we apologise.”
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