No excuses, no complaints: Mahrez accepts defeat and closes his AFCON chapter

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·12 January 2026

No excuses, no complaints: Mahrez accepts defeat and closes his AFCON chapter

Mahrez rejects referee blame as Algeria crash out of AFCON

No excuses, no complaints: Mahrez accepts defeat and closes his AFCON chapter

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Riyad Mahrez dismissed claims that refereeing cost Algeria their AFCON 2025 quarter final accepting Nigeria’s superiority in 2 - 0 defeat that ended both the Fennecs campaign and his own Africa Cup of Nations journey.

Algeria knocked out in Marrakech on Saturday as Nigeria booked semi final date with hosts Morocco.

In the aftermath frustration rippled through the Algerian camp with players and staff criticising referee Issa Sy over non awarded penalty for a handball by Semi Ajayi and the flurry of yellow cards shown to the Desert Warriors.

Mahrez, however took different tone:

“We faced a strong team. We could have done better, of course,” the captain said. “You can always talk about tactics and replay match in your head but in the end they played better than us.. That’s football.”