Morocco star Brahim Diaz has broken his silence after his seismic penalty miss in part contributed to the national team’s 50-year AFCON trophy drought continuing, with the Atlas Lions losing 1-0 to Senegal on Sunday evening.
Diaz was at the centre of dramatic and extraordinary scenes in injury time in Rabat, after he went down for a foul in the box after tussling with El Hadji Malick Diouf and drew a penalty on the heels of a lengthy VAR check.
Incensed by the decision of Jean-Jacques Ndala and his refereeing team, Senegal manager Pape Thiaw ordered his players leave the pitch in protest.
17 minutes after the penalty was given, Diaz stepped up to the spot but his Paneka effort was well beaten by former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who made the simple save.
Diaz looked desolate after squandering his chance, and in his first public statement since missing the penalty, admitted that it would be ‘hard to recover’ from doing so.
‘My soul hurts,’ he wrote in a social media post directed at Moroccan fans. ‘I dreamed of this title thanks to all the love you all gave me, every message, every show of support that made me feel I wasn’t alone.
Brahim Diaz has broken his silence after his catastrophic penalty miss in the AFCON final
The Morocco and Real Madrid star saw his team’s chance at breaking their 50-year duck slip through his fingers
‘I fought with everything I had, with my heart above all else. Yesterday I failed and I take full responsibility.
‘I apologize from the bottom of my heart. It will be hard for me to recover, because this wound doesn’t heal easily… but I will try. Not for myself, but for everyone who believed in me and for everyone who suffered with me.
‘I will keep going forward until one day I can give you all this love back and become a source of pride for my Moroccan people.’
Many fans had questioned whether Diaz had been arrogant in deciding to pull off the audacious attempt, while others on social media wondered if it had been a conspiracy of sportsmanship.
But in the wake of the miss, Diaz was harangued by his manager Walid Regragui, who quickly substituted him as the final spilled into extra time.
Senegal then netted the game’s only goal courtesy of a blistering Pape Gueye strike inside the opening five minutes of the restart, with the Teranga Lions reunited with the trophy after winning it for the first time in 2021.
Still visibly emotional, Diaz was forced to accept the tournament’s Golden Boot from FIFA president Gianni Infantino after finishing as the top scorer.
Amid the chaos of Senegal’s protest over the penalty, travelling fans in the away end spilled down onto the pitch during the stoppage, themselves angered by Ndala’s decision.
The 26-year-old attempted an audacious Paneka at the biggest moment but Edouard Mendy was wise to it
Players between the two teams clashed after Jean Jacques Ndala delivered his final verdict
Head coach Pape Thiaw then called his players to off the pitch and into the dressing room
Sadio Mane eventually captained his side to a second AFCON title in fewer than four years
Riot police intervened with dramatic consequences, with a number of fans clashing with security staff.
When play resumed for extra time, Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saw his goal targeted by missiles from Senegal fans.
Tensions also flared in the press box with a scuffle between rival journalists, while after the final whistle, Thiaw was booed by Moroccan members of the media when arriving for his press conference.
Thiaw later apologised for his behaviour on the pitch, saying: ‘After reflecting on it I made them come back – you can react in the heat of the moment.
‘We accept the errors of the referee. We shouldn’t have done it but it’s done and now we present our apologies to football.’
Regragui in turn called Senegal’s actions ‘a shame for Africa’, stating: ‘The image we’ve given of Africa is shameful.
‘A coach who asks his players to leave the field… What Pape did does not honour Africa.
‘He wasn’t classy. But he is a champion, so he can say whatever he wants. We stopped the match in the eyes of the world for 10 minutes.
‘That didn’t help Brahim. That doesn’t excuse Brahim for the way he hit the penalty. He hit it like that and we have to accept it. We were one minute from being African champions. That’s football. It’s often cruel. We missed what for some was the opportunity of a lifetime.’
Thiaw is set to face a lengthy ban after telling his players to walk off despite apologising for his actions – while the Moroccan football federation has announced its intent to launch legal action over the incident.
