AFCON Final: Legends hail ‘Incredible’ Mane for saving African football

• Oliseh, Ighalo, Amokachi speak

Notable former Nigerian international players, including former Super Eagles captain and coach Sunday Oliseh, as well as Daniel Amokachi and Odion Ighalo, have hailed the extraordinary role Sadio Mane played in ‘saving the face of African football’ during Sunday’s ill-tempered 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Final between Senegal and hosts Morocco.

The match nearly reached a breaking point after Senegalese players, with encouragement from coach Pape Thiaw, stormed off in protest following a VAR decision to award Morocco a penalty for a tug on striker Brahim Diaz’s shoulder. The match was delayed around 15 minutes before the Teranga Lions returned, courtesy of Mane’s spirited intervention.

Though Diaz later squandered the resultant penalty kick and Pape Gueye struck the solitary winner in extra time to secure a second-ever AFCON crown for Senegal after a hugely controversial end to regular time, the majority agreed that the hero of the night was none other than the former Liverpool and Bayern star who pulled his teammates back onto the pitch.

“Sadio Mane saved the face of African football, and he’s a man who stood out. He took all his teammates back onto the field to continue the game,” Ighalo said on SuperSport after Mane was deservedly named Player of the Tournament. “He deserves to win that trophy, and he deserves the captain’s armband.”

But Oliseh, a member of the influential International Football Association Board (IFAB) who was doing colour commentary for the highly disputed match, was more forthcoming. Apart from heaping praise on Mane, Oliseh condemned the show of shame by the Teranga Lions towards the end of the match.

“This is why Sadio Mané is loved worldwide, because of his intelligence and the ability to stay calm,” Oliseh said. “This is a man who has been through a lot of challenges in his playing career. I think Sadio Mané is a hero; he’s an example that people should imitate. His teammates are coming back onto the pitch.

“But if the referee blows for a penalty, the rule states you have to respect the decision. Furthermore, the penalty has not been scored yet.”

Speaking in the same vein, Amokachi and former Morocco international Hassan Kachloul, in separate interviews, spoke glowingly about Mane yet again.

“Mane went the extra mile to get his team back and it has paid off,” Amokachi told BBC World Service. “What an ambassador for football he is. We know the kind of person he is off the pitch and he knows what football is all about.”

Kachloul, who played for Morocco at the USA 1994 World Cup, quipped: “African football and world football were losing” until Mane intervened.

“What I like more than anything, the only player from the Senegalese team was Sadio Mane.

“That shows the great man he is. He went back to the dressing room and brought those players back. Mane was the man to bring them back on,” he told E4.

Yet the ‘Big Man’ Mane has equally shed light on his decision on the night when his teammates were losing their heads.

“Football is something special, the world was watching, the world loves football and I think football is a pleasure so we have to give a good image for football,” Mane told the BBC. “I think it would be crazy to not play this game because what, the referee gave a penalty and we go out of the game?

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“I think that would be the worst thing especially in African football. I’d rather lose than this kind of thing happen to our football.

“I think it’s really bad. Football should not stop for even ten minutes but what can we do? We have to accept that we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened, happened.”