Mamadou Niang urged Sadio Mane to finish AFCON final amid Senegal walk-off chaos | OneFootball

Mamadou Niang has revealed how a sideline plea to Sadio Mane helped keep Senegal on the pitch during the Africa Cup of Nations final, before a 1-0 win over Morocco on 18 January.

With a stoppage-time penalty awarded to the Atlas Lions, manager Pape Thiaw told his players to head off. As confusion grew, Niang went to Mane. "Mamad, what do I do?" the Al-Nassr forward asked, the 44-year-old said, speaking to Canal+ Afrique.

"You must not leave the pitch, we see everything that is happening, I can understand that there is anger, frustration but you have to finish this match, it is perhaps your last AFCON and you cannot go out like that. If we have to lose, we will lose, but not like that, we will lose like men".

El-Hadji Diouf and Claude Le Roy also urged the players to reconsider. "There was a lot of agitation," Niang said. "In 2004, we wanted to leave the field and fortunately we didn't do it because we could have had a lot of problems."

Mane then rallied his team-mates to return. Brahim Diaz missed the penalty with a mishit Panenka, taking the match to extra time, where Pape Gueye hit a superb winner.

Later, at the presidential palace celebrations, Niang said Mane thanked him. "He came to thank me for coming to talk to him but I told him: 'Don't thank me because you already had the answer'."

Source: Goal.com