Senegal players leave the pitch after controversial Morocco penalty in AFCON final

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal witnessed a controversial situation in the final moment of the game.

Senegal made it to the final 2025 AFCON competition after defeating Egypt 1-0 in the semi-final.

Morocco, the host country, also booked a spot in the final following a 4-2 victory on a penalty shootout against Nigeria.

As it happened

The game saw both teams go at each other in the early stage of the game but could only go into halftime goalless.

In the second half, Senegal opened the scoring to take the lead, but it was ruled out for a foul during the buildup.

However, just one minute to the final whistle, Morocco were awarded a penalty after the VAR called the referee back to an incident in the box involving Ibrahim Diaz and Diouf in the box.

The controversial decision from the referee made the Senegalese players and coaching staff furious, with many arguments on the touchline.

This led to Teranga Lions players heading into the dressing room without the referee blowing the final whistle, as seen on X.

They were not ready to come back onto the pitch, as they felt aggrieved with the penalty decision given against them.

However, Sadio Mane, the captain of the team, went in to usher his team back onto the field to complete the game.

Meanwhile, a day before the final, Senegal released a statement lodging a formal complaint with CAF over security lapses ahead of the AFCON 2025 final against host nation Morocco.