Brahim Diaz’s Panenka penalty only the second weirdest thing about AFCON final… | OneFootball

The AFCON final was so completely batsh*t, that neither Senegal’s walk-off nor Brahim Diaz’s awful penalty were the weirdest things to happen…

Morocco v Senegal was a ludicrous affair, equal parts harrowing and hilarious. Senegal won the game 1-0 but the continental showpiece requires far greater context than simply the result.

So much ridiculousness went down in Rabat. Here are just the top five moments of madness from a chaotic, confusing affair…

5) The press conference

We start with a fittingly embarrassing end to the evening…

Senegal coach Pape Thiaw walked in to his press conference with a child – presumably his own – to be greeted by boos from the Moroccan journalists, who appeared to be making for the exit in a p*ss-poor protest rather than, y’know, doing the job we assume many were being paid to do.

The majority of the other correspondents turned their phones towards the tantrums taking place, all the while Thiaw took his seat every bit as smugly as you would expect. The Senegal coach sat there briefly, adjusted his winner’s medal, then f***ed off in to the night without facing a single question.

We should not have been surprised. The pre-match presser was a farce too, with Senegalese journalists turning on a Moroccan reporter for asking why Senegal were blaming Morocco for a series of logistical concerns when CAF were, apparently, to blame. Scuffles were reported in the press box while the chaos was unfolding beneath them.

How many of the assembled ‘media’ were actual journalists? Not enough, evidently. Regardless, the host nation’s representatives f***ed their opportunity to probe Thiaw on his decisions around Senegal’s walk-off, with the victorious coach’s only message being the two fingers held up as he left to represent the two AFCON titles his country holds while Morocco remain without a title in 50 years despite this competition being presented to them on a plate.

4) The disallowed goal

Much of the chaos could have been avoided if referee Jean-Jacques Ndala didn’t colossally cock up in the second minute of added time.

Senegal, quite reasonably, thought they had bagged what would likely have been a stoppage-time winner when Ismaila Sarr bundled in a rebound after Abdoulaye Seck’s header struck the post. But Ndala spotted or, more accurately, imagined a foul on Achraf Hakimi, who was brushed aside by Seck, with the official blowing up before Sarr was able to score.

Ndala’s haste, of course, was most convenient for Morocco as it rendered VAR redundant. And the hosts’ extraordinary luck with decisions over the course of the tournament wasn’t over. A few moments later, VAR could not wait to get involved to give them the softest of penalties with what would be the last kick of the game. Daft decision though it was, it doesn’t even make the top five here.

3) The Senegal walk-off

Pure cinema though it definitely was, it was also a dick move to disappear down the tunnel.

We don’t know if it was Thiaw’s idea, but he certainly became the lead orchestrator in taking Senegal’s aggrieved players off the pitch. Some went willingly, most seemed more reluctant, while Sadio Mane was among a handful who stayed out.

Mane sought counsel from El Hadji Diouf – always the man to turn for advice in a crisis – and when Stevie G’s bezzie mate thinks you have crossed a line, it’s time to U-turn.

Mane fetched his team-mates who, perhaps beginning to realise the consequence of their actions, cannot have taken much persuading given the skipper was in the dressing room for all of 4.27 seconds.

Given what happened next, Senegal are unlikely to be too regretful…

2) The Brahim Diaz panenka

A penalty so poor, in execution and timing, some are still wondering aloud whether the Morocco star meant to miss it.

He did not. We are quite certain that ego got the better of Diaz during the 17 minutes he was waiting to take his penalty kick and he was unable to resist the legacy that would have been achieved had he succeeded.

But we can see why so many are open to alternative theories. The lack of reaction from the Senegal players was… odd. But the response from Diaz’s team-mates suggests that if there was a pact in place, they were oblivious to it.

Thiaw on the sideline simply shook his head, while Diaz appeared genuinely distraught, leading to a mercy substitution early in extra-time.

“He had a lot of time before taking the penalty which must have disturbed him,” Morocco coach Walid Regragui said afterwards. “But we can’t change what happened. That is how he chose to take the penalty.”

And that will be the lad’s legacy, not the Golden Boot he received from from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. When even the most shameless man in football appears uncomfortable with what’s unfolding around him, something has gone terribly wrong.

1) The battle for Mendy’s towel

There were scraps and squabbles everywhere you looked in Rabat. But few as intense and certainly none as weird as the battle for Edouard Mendy’s towel.

Unless we are missing something, it was literally that – a towel. Something for the Senegal stopper to dry his gloves on a soaking-wet night. But to the Moroccans, it seemed to represent something far more sacred and significant.

What? F*** knows. But they deployed everyone except the army to seize the soggy rag: fans, officials, players and ball boys.

At first, it just seemed like a bit of mischief while home supporters sought to separate Mendy from his towel. At one point, the fans lured a confused-looking Hakimi into their dastardly mission, the defender throwing it into the crowd during a break in play, prompting El Hadji Malick Diouf to go and retrieve it.

Then it got properly weird. Senegal sent sub stopper Yehvann Diouf to stand by Mendy’s goal, first to guard it, then to hold it. That provoked Moroccan ballboys to gang up on Diouf, unsuccessfully, but at one point, they were dragging him across the floor by the treasured towel before an official joined the hunt with the Senegal sub being pursued around the pitch.

Morocco sent back-up in the form of PSV Eindhoven winger Ismael Saibari, which is when it all got very Fr Dougal Maguire watching the corner flag during the All-Priests Over-75s Challenge final.