“Mendy’s towel”… a behind-the-scenes battle in the Morocco-Senegal final (video)

The ball was not the only focus of attention in the African Cup final between Morocco and Senegal, as the towel of the Senegalese national team goalkeeper, Eduardo Mendy, quickly turned into a striking item that attracted the attention of the fans and the lenses of the cameras, and sparked widespread discussion after it caused “chaos” inside and outside the field, amid an atmosphere of tension and tension in a scene that observers described as “unprofessional.”

The details of the crisis go back to the ball collectors at the Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium in Rabat making repeated attempts to pull the towel belonging to goalkeeper Mendy, thinking that it was a kind of magic or sorcery to prevent Moroccan players from scoring goals, in light of the goals lost in front of the goal.

Strange scenepic.twitter.com/1Xo3I7hJvi https://t.co/2rR65zlocf

– Amr (@bt3) January 19, 2026

Video clips filmed behind the scenes of the match showed Senegal’s reserve goalkeeper, Yevan Diouf, intervening to try to protect the towel and grab it in front of Moroccan player Ismail Sabiri, in order to ensure the readiness of his teammate Mendy and give him an opportunity to dry his hands and face from the water in the rainy weather, which later turned into a tug of war with the ball collectors who tried to grab the towel by force.

Ashraf Hakimi enters the crisis

Astonishment was also raised by the response of the Moroccan national team captain, Achraf Hakimi, to the request of one of the fans sitting behind the Senegal goal to remove the towel from the net. He actually snatched it and threw it away before one of the Senegal players intervened to return it to its place.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Achraf Hakimi threw in the towel for Mendy

😨😨😨😨😨😨😳😳😳😳😳😳

pic.twitter.com/85NWUVLxHi

– Nawaf Al-Asian 🇸🇦 (@football_li5) January 18, 2026

It is noteworthy that the match witnessed other strange events, which began with the Senegalese fans rioting in protest against the referee’s decisions, especially after canceling a goal for the “Tiranga Lions”. The chaos extended to the withdrawal of the Senegalese players from the field in protest against the awarding of a penalty kick to Morocco in the last seconds of regular time, at the request of the coach and administrative staff. Had it not been for the intervention of national team star Sadio Mane in critical moments to return his teammates to the field, an African football scandal would have occurred in the final.

The match was completed with a penalty kick missed by Moroccan star Ibrahim Diaz after he shot the ball in the “Panenka” style, and goalkeeper Mendy blocked it brilliantly, before the Senegalese invested in their high morale and snatched the winning goal and the second title in their country’s history after the 2021 edition, in a scenario that is both surprising and controversial.

A provocative statement from a Nigerian goalkeeper

For his part, the Nigerian national team goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, sparked controversy after the final, as he published on his official Instagram account a post in which he said: “Use my towel to wipe your tears,” in reference to the repeated harassment he was also subjected to from ball collectors, who deliberately pulled the goalkeeper’s towel before the penalty shootout in the semi-final match, which Morocco won.