CAN 2025 final: Idrissa Gana Gueye recounts on-field incidents | OneFootball

CAN 2025 final: Idrissa Gana Gueye recounts on-field incidents

Senegalese African champion Idrissa Gana Gueye has opened up about the chaotic CAN 2025 final between Senegal and Morocco on January 18.

An undisputed starter and the vice-captain of the Senegal national team, Idrissa Gana Gueye delivered an exemplary performance throughout CAN 2025. He played every minute of the tournament and wore the captain's armband for the final in the absence of Kalidou Koulibaly. In recent hours, he reflected on the final of this 35th edition of the CAN in the latest issue of Onze Mondial.

"The match was tense on both sides, with a lot of calculation happening. We had chances to score, and so did Morocco. They're a very good team that plays excellent football. The Moroccans run a lot, they caused us a lot of problems, especially when we made mistakes and lost possession. At the end of the match, we scored from a set piece, but the referee blew for a foul (he interrupted the play). Actually, throughout the game, there were lots of little things. The referee was blowing everything against us. We knew we had to keep our cool and that I was the only one who should speak to him, since I was captain for this match. So I often went over to him, calmly, joking, smiling, talking to him, trying to understand, trying to lighten the atmosphere as much as possible. And honestly, it spoiled the match a bit. Because the game itself was good. Then, what happened happened. He called a foul against us, then gave them a penalty. And at that point, chaos broke out. Everyone was wondering: 'Are we playing or not?' There was a lot of talking, some shoving. The match stopped for a while. Everything that happened was in the spirit of competition, but we couldn't understand what was going on, and we just wanted to win. For us, that was the last straw. I talked it over with Sadio Mané, he spoke with some of the older players and came back. We spoke with the coach, and Sadio said: 'We're going back in and playing.' The coach replied: 'The situation is tough, but we have to go back and play, it's not a big deal.' Then we started joking among ourselves, saying: 'Besides, they haven't even scored yet.' And we just kept laughing.", recounted the Everton midfielder.