The Africa Cup of Nations reaches its climax on Sunday with a final showdown between the continent’s two leading footballing powerhouses as hosts Morocco look to win the title for the first time in 50 years when they take on Sadio Mane’s Senegal.
The match kicks off at 1900 GMT at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where almost all of the crowd of 69,000 will be backing a Morocco side captained by African player of the year Achraf Hakimi.
The first AFCON ever to start in one year and end in another could be the second in a row to be won by the host nation, with the Atlas Lions aiming to follow in the footsteps of Ivory Coast, crowned champions in front of their own fans in Abidjan in 2024.
Walid Regragui’s Morocco have established themselves in recent years as Africa’s pre-eminent national team, becoming the first from the continent to reach a World Cup semi-final, in 2022, and climbing to 11th place in the world rankings, just above Italy.
However, they have long been AFCON underachievers, with their only title to date coming in 1976. This will be their first final since 2004, when they lost to Tunisia with Regragui part of the team.
Senegal, meanwhile, are appearing in their third final in four editions and are targeting a second title to follow their 2022 triumph, when Mane scored the decisive penalty in a shoot-out win over Egypt in Yaounde.
“We dreamt of being here and now we have done it,” Regragui told reporters in the Moroccan capital on Saturday.
He has been under suffocating pressure to deliver the title for the football-mad nation, and would perhaps not have kept his job through to the approaching World Cup in North America had he not at least taken the team this far.
“I hope this is just the beginning and not our last AFCON final,” he added.
“Big football nations want to be up there on a regular basis. Tomorrow (Sunday) we want to try to make history.”
He added: “Senegal will need to be really strong to beat us at home, although they are capable.”
Morocco’s success over the last four weeks has been based around the attacking inspiration of Real Madrid winger Brahim Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, as well as a defence which has conceded only once — and that a penalty in a group-stage draw with Mali.
Security concerns: Being at home brings extra pressure, but can also be a huge advantage, and Senegal have complained about the conditions in which they were welcomed to Rabat ahead of the game.
The Lions of Teranga were based in the northern port city of Tangiers for the duration of the tournament before arriving in Rabat by train on Friday.
The Senegalese Football Federation complained in a statement about “serious concerns” including a “lack of adequate security” for the team’s arrival “which put the players and staff at risk”.
It also complained about the hotel offered to the delegation, the fact that they were given fewer than 3,000 tickets for their supporters for the final, and about being offered a training pitch at the Moroccan team’s base in nearby Sale.
“What happened was not normal,” said Senegal coach Pape Thiaw.
“Given the number there, anything could have happened. My players could have been in danger.
“That type of thing should not happen between two brother countries.”
Senegal’s star player Mane, a two-time winner of the African player of the year prize, said after netting the winner in the semi-final against Egypt that Sunday’s game would be his last ever AFCON appearance.
Remarkably, Thiaw insisted on the eve of the game that the former Liverpool forward may have no choice but to rethink that decision.
“I think he made his decision in the heat of the moment and the country does not agree, and I as coach of the national team do not agree,” said Thiaw.
“We would like to keep him for as long as possible,” added the coach, who is without centre-back and captain Kalidou Koulibaly due to suspension.