“The loser of the AFCON final is the African continent’
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Reading Time: 3min | Tue. 20.01.26. | 17:36
Former Morocco manager was critical of the events at the AFCON final
Brahim Diaz’s missed ‘panenka’ and Senegal’s walkout prior to the penalty are the two most commented events from the recently ended AFCON and the topic doesn’t seem to be fading at the ‘most popular’ list of football news. There are many former and current coaches, players and TV pundits who are commenting on these events and they all have their opinion which goes from sharp critique to support to either Diaz or Pape Thiaw. One of those sharp critics is Herve Renard. The French coach has deep roots in African football as he became the only manager to win AFCON with two different teams in 2015, when he won it with Ivory Coast, after Zambia in 2012. He was also Morocco boss from 2016-2019 so he knows the situation. And he had no mercy towards Diaz.
"Missing a penalty is understandable, but in these cases I'm inflexible and have no compassion. It's disrespectful to an entire country and a people who have been striving for success for 50 years. To a lesser extent, I experienced the same thing in the Arab Cup against Morocco. One of my players, Abdullah Al-Hamdan, missed a Panenka-style penalty. I asked him to accompany me to the post-match press conference and apologize. If that had happened in the Africa Cup of Nations final, I might have lost my temper" admitted Renard to Le Parisien.
The Frenchman didn’t have much sympathy for Senegal’s decision to leave the pitch decision either.
"The loser is the African continent. These events don't paint a pretty picture, but we don't have the power to rewrite history. It all started with one man's bad decision, the referee's, to disallow Sarr's Senegalese goal for a previous foul by Seck on Hakimi that wasn't at all clear. He blew the whistle too quickly. It's easy to say that in hindsight, but everything that happened afterward is due to that. He could have consulted VAR and made a decision based on the evidence available to him. This Senegal-Morocco match, with its chaotic ending, will be remembered 30 or 40 years from now" he said.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 7
Tuesday
18.30: (6.75) Kairat Almaty (4.40) Club Brugge (1.53)
20.45: (6.50) Bodo (5.60) Man.City (1.40)
23.00: (4.00) Copenhagen (3.65) Napoli (1.95)
23.00: (2.70) Inter (3.25) Arsenal (2.90)
23.00: (1.32) Real Madrid (6.25) Monaco (9.00)
23.00: (4.30) Sporting (4.10) PSG (1.80)
23.00: (2.95) Tottenham (3.50) Dortmund (2.50)
23.00: (1.40) Villareal (5.40) Ajax (7.50)
Wednesday
20.45: (3.50) Galatasaray (3.50) Atl.Madrid (2.05)
20.45: (3.15) Qarabag (3.50) Eintr.Frankfurt (2.20)
23.00: (1.90) Atalanta (3.50) Ath.Bilbao (4.20)
23.00: (1.12) Bayern (12.0) St.Gilloise (19.0)
23.00: (1.15) Chelsea (9.50) Paphos (19.0)
23.00: (1.82) Juventus (3.50) Benfica (4.50)
23.00: (1.48) Newcastle (4.40) PSV (6.75)
23.00: (3.90) Olympique Marseille (3.50) Liverpool (1.95)
23.00: (8.00) Slavia Praha (5.75) Barcelona (1.33)
***odds are subject to change***
