Pape Thiaw insists Senegal are African champions after CAF awards AFCON to Morocco | OneFootball

On the eve of Senegal’s friendly with Peru at the Stade de France, Pape Thiaw maintained that his side remain African champions despite CAF’s decision to award the title to Morocco.

According to L'Équipe, the Senegal coach declined to dissect the appeals jury’s ruling, but said the status is clear within the squad and that competitions are decided on the pitch. The comments came at Friday’s news conference ahead of Peru v Senegal on Saturday at 17:00.

Standing alongside him, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye said he now hopes the Court of Arbitration for Sport will confirm what Senegal achieved on the field.

Gueye added that the team experienced powerful emotions that cannot be replaced and highlighted their recent run, with two continental titles and one final across the last four tournaments, which he said were deserved.

He described it as the work of an entire nation, built on seriousness on and off the pitch, and said the task now is to match that standard away from the field in front of CAS.

Source: L'Équipe