2025 Africa Cup of Nations: Idrissa Gana Gueye relives Senegal’s thrilling conquest

Senegal defied all odds to lift their second African title at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations even though they were written off against hosts Morocco in the finals of the 35th edition in Morocco.

In a game that was marred by misunderstanding and 17-minutes holdup after Morocco were awarded a penalty, Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye’s decisive strike in extra time silenced the home fans after Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz had wasted Morocco’s chance to score from the spot.

🎥 HIGHLIGHTS: 🇸🇳 1–0 🇲🇦

Pape Gueye does it for Senegal. The #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 champions. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/GCGC1ULEFf

— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 19, 2026

One of the players who was a key cog of Senegal’s engine room was Everton midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye, who has thrown more light on the momentous occasion. In an interview with Onze Mondial magazine, the 36-year-old spoke candidly about the match.

“The game was tense on both sides, there was a lot of calculation involved. We had chances to score, and so did Morocco.

They’re a very good team, they play very good football. They ran a lot and caused us problems, especially with our turnovers.

Throughout the match, there were a lot of little things. The referee was calling a lot of fouls against us. We knew that the only person who should talk to him was me, because I was captain for this match.

I often went to talk to him calmly, laughing and smiling, to try to understand and lighten the mood. We scored from a set piece, then the referee called a foul against us. Then he awarded them a penalty.

And that’s when things got out of hand. We were wondering, ‘Do we play or not?’ The match stopped for a while. We didn’t understand what was happening; we just wanted to win. We talked with Sadio Mané.

He went to speak with some of the older players, then came back. We spoke with the coach, and Sadio said, ‘We’re coming back and we’re playing.’ We started laughing amongst ourselves. We were saying, ‘And he hasn’t even scored yet.’ And we kept laughing.”

Gana Gueye played seven matches with one assist for the Teranga Lions, wearing the captain’s armband after Kalidou Koulibaly’s injury.