Get French football news Had the chance to speak to former France, Arsenal and Manchester City defender Bakari Sagna. In this segment, Sania shares his strong feelings about the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which his native Senegal participated in.
No doubt you watched Sunday night’s CAN final. Do you understand the Senegalese’s sense of injustice and the fact that they walked off the pitch? What do you think about what happened?
As much as I try to remain objective, this game pisses me off. I was annoyed by the lack of control over the environment, the background, rather than the game itself. Before the game started, I prayed that the game would go smoothly without any problems, no matter who won – of course, I support Senegal, but I put sports values first.
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So when I saw what happened in the game, I couldn’t accept it, I wasn’t happy with the way the game went and the tension that was created. I’m not satisfied with the quality of the refereeing. Not just in the finals, but throughout the competition. There were a lot of things, a lot of mistakes: VAR didn’t check, VAR checked and a wrong decision was taken and the goal that should have been given was denied. So in fact, I think Senegal is reacting on behalf of all the other countries that have faced difficulties before. It all led up to this point, which was the final straw.
You should expect a reaction from a team, a team that will be looking to get some respect – respect that has not yet been shown – because there were incidents when Senegal arrived in Rabat, there were problems with their hotel, there were problems with their training program, there were problems with their security – so there are signs that the game is not going to be smooth sailing. There were fights during the game and – okay, people were laughing at stealing the goalie’s towel, but when you see ball boys attacking players, there’s something about it that’s not normal to me.
Of course, as the coach of Senegal, he [Pape Thiaw] He saw everything that happened on the pitch and in the last 24-48 hours he had to deal with various problems – some players were sick – and the accumulation of problems caused the coach to be under pressure and injured before the game. So when Senegal scores a perfectly valid goal but is left out for no apparent reason, then immediately following [in the lead-up to Morocco being awarded a penalty] Referee under pressure from players [Morocco’s Brahim Diaz] – Well, if he decides to look at VAR himself – fine – but not because he is under pressure from a 26-year-old lad. To be honest, I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen that!
So, as a coach, I guess I would react the same way. Because respect is required, and if someone disrespects you, unfortunately, you have to make your voice heard because, assuming he doesn’t react, it will happen again. At least he emphasized the need for fairness, he emphasized fair play, he emphasized a lot of things, and if he didn’t do that, the result could be like Nigeria, being cheated, like Cameroon, being cheated, like other teams that were cheated.
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Because in other games, there are clear penalties that are not given. I think everyone has seen the photos. Now people are talking about a plot against Morocco. But the image speaks for itself. A foul occurred [Cameroon’s Bryan] Mbeum,o It was 100% a penalty – the referee did not consult VAR. There were other games where clear fouls were committed but the referee did not consult VAR. So when he consults VAR at a crucial moment in the game, inevitably it’s an injustice and players, staff, everyone reacts.
The reaction around the world – and it wasn’t just the reaction of the Senegalese coach. People, fans, football lovers reacted. The reaction was not against Morocco; This is against injustice. That’s the difference. People think we are against Morocco. We are not against Morocco; we are not against Morocco. We stand against injustice in sport. I’m sorry, this is a case of sporting injustice.
This exclusive interview is reproduced from Get French football news and can be found here
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