Summary
The score remained level at 0–0 for most of normal time, with the match ending with a perfectly even 50–50 ratio of possession. The ball spent the slight majority of its time on Senegal's half of the field, with Senegal keeping the ball for long defensive plays before losing it to a Moroccan offense that failed on several short moves up-field. In the second half of the match, Senegal dominated possession of the ball while Morocco tripled the number of shots it took. Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made multiple key saves while Senegal relied mostly on its defensive backs to keep the game goalless. [24]
In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Senegal appeared to clinch victory on a successful corner kick. In the build-up to the play, Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi was knocked to the ground while contesting the kick with Senegalese attacker Abdoulaye Seck. Seck received the incoming kick shortly after Hakimi fell, heading it off the crossbar for a goal assist to Ismaïla Sarr. Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala made a controversial foul call against Seck that resulted in the goal being disallowed. Ndala was criticised for whistling the penalty before the end of the play, thus preventing the VAR from reviewing the validity of the goal. [25]
A few minutes later, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, Senegalese defender El Hadji Malick Diouf held Moroccan attacker Brahim Díaz in the penalty area, triggering a VAR review. Senegal was sanctioned with a penalty kick for Diaz. Disagreeing with the referee’s decision, Senegalese players began shoving Ndala and the opposing team, and Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw instructed his players to leave the pitch in protest. The match was suspended for approximately 14 minutes while Senegalese star player Sadio Mané convinced his teammates in the locker room to return to the field, telling them: "We will play like men!" During this delay, Senegalese fans attempted a pitch invasion and clashed with Moroccan police and fans, and fights broke out in the press box. [26]
Mané's appeals eventually succeeded, and upon the Senegalese team's eventual return to the field, Senegal's goalkeeper Édouard Mendy received a yellow card penalty for delay of the game. Despite the card, Mendy continued to delay the game by refusing to return to the penalty box. Brahim Díaz finally took his penalty kick nearly 21 minutes after the end of regulation time, but his panenka-style attempt was saved by Mendy, and full time ended with the score still tied at 0–0. [27]
During extra time, Pape Gueye scored the only goal of the game for Senegal in the 94th minute with a left-footed shot high into the top right corner of the net from just inside the penalty area to give Senegal a 1–0 win and its second Africa Cup of Nations title. [28] Throughout the match, Moroccan ball boys and two Moroccan players, Achraf Hakimi and Ismael Saibari, had each tried to discard the hand towel of Senegalese goalkeeper Édouard Mendy at various points, forcing substitute Senegalese goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf to intervene. Diouf held the towel up alongside the trophy in his victory photo. [29]
