The AFCON Review | Which Ligue 1 players impressed during the final? | OneFootball

AFCON Final: Senegal v Morocco, Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah, 18/01/2026

Given the multitude of subplots which developed around this year’s AFCON finale, it was no surprise to see the clash between Africa’s top two teams begin at full throttle. Until the final descended into chaos both on and off the pitch, Senegal and Morocco had been playing out arguably the most high-quality match of the tournament.

On the eve of the match, the Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw had already aired his team’s grievances over the logistical and security arrangements surrounding their arrival in Rabat. The controversial refereeing decisions at the end of the final, it seems, were the breaking point which led to Thiaw calling on his players to leave the pitch in protest.

When Sadio Mané eventually convinced his teammates to come back out (with some guidance from AFCON veteran Claude Le Roy), the match had been interrupted for around ten minutes. Arguments were breaking out in the press box and dozens of Senegal fans were trying to invade the pitch, with riot police eventually pushing them back.

The chaos in the stands continued as, at the other end of the pitch, Brahim Díaz dinked his penalty straight into Mendy’s hands. As the Atlas Lions were still reeling from the penalty miss, it was former Marseille midfielder Pape Gueye who would clinch the title in extra-time with an emphatic strike. It was fitting that Mané, who single-handedly saved the final from further disgrace, played a crucial part in the goal with a backheel in the build-up. 

While the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah emptied out at record speed by the end of extra-time, tensions on and off the pitch did not dissipate. Thiaw would be jeered by local journalists on his arrival for the post-match press conference, prompting officials to cancel the media engagement.

It didn’t take long for Senegal to sew the second star onto their badge, but the various threads that led to Sunday’s infamous finale will take a while to untangle.

The match – which Ligue 1 players impressed?

Yassine Bounou had hardly been called into action up until the semi-final shoot-out earlier in the week, with Morocco only conceding two shots on target from within their penalty area until the final. This time, he would make two decisive saves in the first half, the first within minutes of kick-off from a Pape Gueye header. The second came closer to half-time, as Bounou’s outstretched leg denied the onrushing Iliman Ndiaye.

Senegal’s defence was the hardest-hit by the final’s absences, with captain Kalidou Koulibaly suspended and wing-back Krépin Diatta falling ill at the last minute. The pair were replaced by the Chelsea and Strasbourg centre-back Mamadou Sarr and Nice’s Antoine Mendy respectively. Walid Regragui had the luxury of fielding a full-strength starting eleven, with just former Monaco midfielder Eliesse Ben Seghir missing from the team sheet.

At only 20 years of age, Sarr turned in the standout defensive display of the match. The Lyon academy graduate’s tournament effectively began when he replaced the injured Kalidou Koulibaly at the start of the semi-final against Egypt. From then on, alongside Lyon’s Moussa Niakhaté, Sarr did not put a foot wrong, showing an astute sense of anticipation in his defending and breaking lines with some impressive long balls.

Nice goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf emerged as an unlikely hero despite never actually entering the field of play. During the match, the 26-year-old was ostensibly tasked with protecting Édouard Mendy’s towel against repeated attempts from Moroccan players and flagbearers to snatch it away from the Senegal goal. He managed to keep the towel within reach of his teammate, but not without having to fend off an overbearing Ismael Saibari and attacks from multiple volunteers at a time.

Lamine Camara was also representing Ligue 1 in the Senegal lineup, with the Monaco man replacing the suspended Habib Diarra. After sitting out the semi-final, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ibrahim Mbaye was involved again, coming on in the second half and contributing to Senegal’s second wind in extra time. Still only 17 years old, Mbaye has now won a European treble and an Africa Cup of Nations title in the span of just eight months.

His PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi will have had a quiet tournament, as the ankle injury the captain suffered in November visibly hindered his ability to contribute to Morocco’s attacks. Marseille’s Nayef Aguerd was a mainstay in Walid Regragui’s defence, forming an impressive partnership with Adam Masina, and came close to opening the scoring in the first half with a glancing header.

Lille striker Hamza Igamane, meanwhile, may have had the unluckiest campaign of all players involved in Morocco this past month. The 23-year-old played well when he came on against Nigeria in the semi-final, having just returned from injury, but was also the only Morocco player to miss a penalty in the shoot-out. 

In the final, his substitute appearance was cut short by an anterior cruciate ligament tear. The injury, which left Morocco down to ten men for the rest of extra-time, was confirmed by Lille in a statement released on Monday. In any case, Igamane won’t be the only Atlas Lion whose place in the World Cup squad is now in doubt after Sunday night.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin – reporting from Rabat