AFCON: Why I told Senegal teammates to come back to pitch against Morocco

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AFCON: Why I told Senegal teammates to come back to pitch against Morocco – Mane

By DailySports Nigeria on January 19, 2026

Senegal forward, Sadio Mane has suggested why he told his teammates to come back to the pitch and continue playing against Morocco during both sides’ AFCON final on Sunday night.

Recall that Senegal defeated Morocco 1-0 after 120 minutes to win the AFCON.

Pape Gueye scored the only goal of the match in the first half of extra time as Senegal lifted their second AFCON trophy.

But the match was paused towards the end of the second half after the referee awarded the Atlas Lions a late penalty following a foul on Brahim Diaz.

But the whole Senegalese team was not pleased with the decision of the referee and decided to walk out from the pitch.

Mane was later captured by the camera, calling his teammates back to the pitch to continue play against the AFCON host nation.

Speaking on the development after the game, Mane explained why he decided to call his teammates back to the pitch at his post-match interview.

“When they [my teammates] decided to go out and not play, I stayed and asked some people ‘what do you think about this, is it a good idea or not?'” Mane said.

“Then, I decided to go and bring everyone back to the pitch. I think it is the best thing to do. Because this is just football, I think the referee sometimes can make mistakes, but you can also be just, we don’t know, we are just in the game.

“People in the world can judge this, I don’t know, I think it could be a penalty or not. That is not important; what is more important is about the world watching this football, and it is not fair to stop a game like this.”

Source DailySports Nigeria

Posted January 19, 2026