There are finals that are judged on the details and others that turn into a test of character. The final of the 35th Africa Cup of Nations, held in Rabat, between the national team of Senegal and the corresponding Moroccan team, undoubtedly belongs to the second category. A game that escaped the limits of sports drama and touched the sphere of the existential, where football is called upon to remember what exactly it represents.

Until the 90th minute was completed, nothing foreshadowed this subsequent development in the match. The first “omen” of a tense finale came in the 90+2’, when Abdoulaye Seck headed home a corner kick and Ismaila Sarr then scored for Senegal, but the former was charged with an offensive foul on Morocco’s captain, Achraf Hakimi.

This phase provoked protests from the (essentially) visitors, but things got even worse a few minutes later. In the 90'+8', after a VAR intervention and on-field review, the Congolese referee of the match, Jean-Jacques Ndala, initially did not indicate anything. Brahim Diaz had been pulled to the ground by Senegalese defender El Hadji Malick Diouf and the VAR indicated a penalty in favor of the Moroccans. .

At the center of this chaos was Sadio Mane. Not for a goal, not for a dribble, but for an act of responsibility. At a time when anger threatened to blow the final up, when Senegal left the field in protest at the controversial penalty awarded to Morocco in the 90’+8’, the captain stood above the game itself. He knew that continuing the withdrawal would not only mean losing a title on paper, but a heavy punishment for his teammates, for the federation, for an entire country.

Coach Pape Bouna Thiaw had asked for the withdrawal. The tension, the sense of injustice, the pressure of the moment drowned out logic. And yet, in this darkness, Mané became a beacon. With simple words and a determined look, he urged his teammates to return. It took fifteen minutes for the grass to be back on the pitch. Fifteen minutes that saved not only the final, but also the prestige of African football itself.

The rest seemed to be written by a scriptwriter who was thirsty for irony. Brahim Diaz, the star of Real Madrid, chose the arrogant blow “a la Panenka”, and the goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy, punished him with almost cruel composure. The penalty was missed, the game went to extra time and the momentum had definitively changed sides. The paranoid scenario of this final could only end with a Senegalese triumph.

In the 94th minute of extra time (plus), Pape Gueye scored the goal that decided the final. A shot that froze Morocco and redeemed Senegal. From there, the trophy had already found its way.

Senegal's victory in the 35th Africa Cup of Nations was celebrated across the continent. Not only as a sporting success, but as a symbol of resistance against the pathologies, shadows and corruption that weigh down African football. On social media, thousands of fans spoke of vindication, of moral victory, of a title that deserved to go to the one who first protected the game itself.

And so, in a final that had it all, history will not only remember the 1-0. It will remember how, in the chaos, a captain chose responsibility over anger. How Sadio Mane, if only for a few minutes, saved football from itself.

The central figure of the celebrations was, as expected, Sadio Mane. The Senegal captain was deified as a symbol of ethics and footballing dignity, with many users calling him the "king of Africa" and emphasizing that he is one of the most beloved footballers in the world.

Of course, the Senegalese national team's victory in the 35th Africa Cup of Nations was not only celebrated within its borders. On the contrary, it provoked a wave of strong reactions and emotions across the African continent, with thousands of fans from different countries publicly expressing their support for the "Lions of Teranga".