Exclusive | Bacary Sagna on the AFCON final: ‘Senegal were reacting on behalf of all the other nations that had been hard done by before.’ | OneFootball

Get French Football News had the opportunity to have a chat with former France, Arsenal and Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna. In this part, Sagna shares his strong feelings on the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which featured his parental nation, Senegal.

You no doubt saw the CAN final on Sunday night. Do you understand the sense of injustice of the Senegalese and the fact that they left the pitch? What do you think about what happened? 

While trying to remain objective, the match annoyed me. I was annoyed by the lack of control over the environment, the context, not the match itself. Before the match started, I was praying that the match would go well and without any problems, whoever won – of course, I was supporting Senegal, but I put the values of sport above all. 

So when I saw what happened in the match, I can’t be OK with that, I can’t be happy with the way the match developed, the tensions that were created. I can’t be happy with the level of refereeing. Not only in the final, but throughout the competition. There were a lot of things, a lot of errors: VARs not checked, VARs checked with a bad decision, then taken, goals disallowed that should have been given. So in fact, I think that Senegal were reacting on behalf of all the other nations that had been hard done by before. It all led to that point, which was the final straw. 

You should have expected that a team would react, that a team would look to be shown some respect – respect that had not been shown – because there were incidents when the Senegal squad arrived in Rabat, there were issues with their hotel, there were issues with their training schedule, there were issues with their security – so there had been signs that made you think that the match was not going to be straightforward. There were fights during the match, there was – OK, people are laughing about stealing the goalkeeper’s towel, but when you see the ball boys attacking a player, there are things that for me are not normal. 

So of course, as coach of Senegal, he [Pape Thiaw] sees everything that is happening around the pitch, he has had to deal with various issues over the last 24-48 hours – there were some players who were ill – there was a build-up of issues that led the coach to be under pressure and wound up before the game. So when Senegal score a totally valid goal which is ruled out for no reason, and then straight after that [in the lead-up to Morocco being awarded a penalty] the referee is put under pressure by a player [Morocco’s Brahim Diaz] –OK if he decides to go see the VAR of his own accord – fine – but not because he has been pressurised by a little 26-year-old-old. Honestly, I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen that!

So I, as a coach, I think I would have reacted in the same way. Because respect is required, and if someone doesn’t respect you, unfortunately, you have to make yourself heard, because, supposing he had not reacted, that kind of thing would happen again. At least he emphasised the need for equity, he emphasised fair play, he emphasised a lot of things, and if he doesn’t do that, then it might have ended like Nigeria, who were cheated, like Cameroon, who were cheated, like the other teams that were cheated. 

Because in the other games, there were clear penalties that were not given. I think everyone has seen the pictures. Now people are talking about a conspiracy against Morocco. But the images speak for themselves. There was a foul on [Cameroon’s Bryan] Mbeum,o which was 100% a penalty – the referee did not consult VAR. There were other matches where there was a clear foul, but the referee did not consult VAR. So inevitably when he does go to consult VAR at a key, important moment of the match, it’s a form of injustice and the players, the staff, everyone reacted. 

And the reaction across the world – it is not only the reaction of the Senegalese coach. The people, the fans, football lovers have reacted. And the people’s reaction is not against Morocco; it’s against injustice. That’s the difference. People think that we were against Morocco. We were not against Morocco; we were against sporting injustice. And I’m sorry, but this was a case of sporting injustice.

Bacary Sagna was speaking to GFFN courtesy of BetVictor Online Casino

GFFN | Jeremy Smith