Brahim Diaz Penalty Failure Disrupted Morocco's Dream, Regragui: The Interrupted Match Will Definitely Disrupt

JAKARTA - Morocco's defeat in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Africa Cup of Nations/Afcon) final against Senegal on Monday, January 19, 2026, early morning WIB, is still haunting.

Morocco coach Walid Regragui, a match that was interrupted long before the penalty in the final minutes, disturbed Brahim Diaz. This caused the Real Madrid player's penalty kick to be successfully saved by the Senegal goalkeeper.

Hosts Morocco were awarded a controversial penalty in the eighth minute of injury time after VAR ruled that El Hadji Malick Diouf had fouled Diaz inside the penalty area.

The decision caused a commotion between the two teams and made the Senegalese players leave the field in protest of their coach's instructions, Pape Thiaw. They only returned to the field after a 14-minute delay in the match.

Overall, Diaz had to wait for 17 minutes before taking his penalty and finally kicked a panenka ball that was easily conquered by Edouard Mendy.

"He waited a long time which must have bothered him before taking the penalty. However, we can't change what happened. That's how he chose to take the penalty. We need to look forward now," said Regragui.

Senegal finally won the final after Pape Gueye's single goal in the fourth minute of the first extra time.

For Diaz, this was the end of a cruel tournament. In fact, he performed well throughout the journey to the final. The Real Madrid striker won the Golden Boot for his five goals.

However, Regragui highlighted Senegal's actions who left the field because they were considered to cause chaos.

"The match we played was a disgrace for Africa. When a head coach asks his players to leave the field, when he says things that have already started in the press conference (before the match, when Senegal accused Morocco of using unsporting tactics), he needs to remain classy, both in victory and defeat."

"What Pape (Thiaw) did tonight was disrespectful to Africa. He is now the African champion, so he can say whatever he wants, but they stopped the match for more than 10 minutes."

"It doesn't justify the way Brahim kicked (the penalty), he kicked it like that. We have to take responsibility. We need to look forward now and accept that Brahim failed to execute it," said Regragui.