Kunle Adelabu
The Teranga Lions of Senegal emerged winners of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2025, on Sunday, beating the host country, Morocco, in a dramatic final game of the tournament.
Pape Gueye scored in the first period of extra time to give the Teranga Lions 1-0 win over Atlas Lions of Morocco, to claim their second AFCON title.
While Senegal played its fourth AFCON finals, Morocco became the 15th African nation to reach a final on home soil.
The game witnessed delay of the match by the Senegalese players, for about 20 minutes, when they left the field to protest the decision of the centre referee who awarded a controversial last-minute penalty to the Atlas Lions, after consulting the VAR.
Both teams matched each other, with Teranga Lions holding their ground against a massive Moroccan crowd who were solidly behind their team with their noise.
Before the Senegalese walked-off the field in protest after the penalty was awarded to the Moroccan team, there had been a bit of drama, when the Teranga Lions thought they had scored a late winner with Idrissa Gueye’s strike which hit the post and Ismaïla Sarr nodded home the rebound, only for the goal to be disallowed.
It took the intervention of French coach, Claude Le Roy who convinced Sadio Mane on why members of his team would have to return to the field to conclude the game, before the match could resume.
There were other dramas with Moroccan ball boys removing the Senegalese goalkeeper’s face towel which was prevented by a Senegalese player. At a point, a Moroccan player had to stand in between the Senegalese player that was preventing the ball boys from removing the towel and Teranga Lions’ goal keeper whom he was protecting.
There were also dramatic occasions among the spectators as the tensions from the field of play also extended to the fans of both teams.
