Morocco’s Brahim Diaz has said sorry for his missed Panenka penalty that ended up costing his team the Africa Cup of Nations title on Sunday. He admitted his “soul hurts” and took the blame for Morocco’s 1-0 loss to Senegal in Rabat.

Late in the game—98th minute—Morocco got a penalty after Senegal’s El Hadji Malick Diouf dragged Diaz to the ground. Things got heated fast, both in the stands and on the pitch.

Just five minutes earlier, the referee had ruled out a Senegal goal. Then, after a VAR review, Morocco got the penalty. Some Senegal players stormed off in protest, egged on by their coach, Pape Bouna Thiaw.

It took more than 14 minutes to get everyone back under control. Finally, play resumed. Diaz stepped up for the penalty and tried a soft, chipped Panenka, but Senegal’s keeper, Edouard Mendy, just stood his ground and caught it without any trouble.

That moment pretty much sealed Morocco’s fate. The match went into extra time, and Senegal snatched the win with a brilliant goal from Pape Gueye.

“Yesterday I failed, and I take full responsibility and apologise with all my heart,” Diaz wrote on X.

“It’s going to be tough to move on because this kind of pain doesn’t go away quickly, but I’ll try. Not for me, but for everyone who believed in me and suffered with me.

“I’ll keep pushing until I can give something back, until I can make my Moroccan people proud.”

Diaz, 26, plays for Real Madrid. He was born in Malaga and even played once for Spain before switching to Morocco in 2024.

He actually finished as the top scorer in this tournament, scoring in each of Morocco’s first five matches.

But Morocco’s 50-year wait for another continental title drags on—at least until 2027.

And if you’re wondering, the Panenka is named after Czech footballer Antonín Panenka. It’s a cheeky penalty where the player chips the ball down the middle, gambling that the keeper will dive out of the way. This time, Diaz lost that gamble.

Morocco manager Walid Regragui said Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz looked unsettled before his shocking penalty miss in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal.

Diaz had a golden shot at making history when Morocco won a last-minute penalty with the score still 0-0. One goal would have handed them their first continental title in half a century. But right when the pressure was at its peak, chaos broke out. Senegal’s coach, Pape Thiaw, pulled his whole team off the pitch to protest the VAR decision that led to the penalty. Suddenly, nobody knew what was going on. The Senegal players disappeared into the dressing room, fans tried to storm the field, and security scrambled to keep order. Seventeen minutes ticked by—seventeen long, tense minutes.

When the dust settled and everyone finally returned, Senegal’s keeper Edouard Mendy dragged things out even more, stalling at the penalty spot while Sadio Mane tried to calm everyone down. Diaz tried to block it all out. He kissed the ball, set it down, and went for a Panenka. But the shot was weak, and Mendy barely had to move. He caught it with ease.

The final turned into a wild, messy affair. In extra time, Senegal’s Pape Gueye broke through with a brilliant winner, and just like that, Senegal had their second AFCON title. Morocco’s players were crushed. Diaz, in tears, watched as Senegal lifted the trophy.

People on social media started whispering that Diaz missed the penalty on purpose, maybe as a protest against himself. But Regragui dismissed all of that. “He had too much time to think before the kick, and that messed with his head,” he said. “But what’s done is done. That’s how he took the penalty. Now we move forward.”

When reporters pressed Mendy about his conversation with Diaz before the miss, he just smiled. “That’s between us,” he said. “We went through it together, we came back together, and tonight, we can be proud.” Did he think Diaz missed on purpose? “No way. Let’s be serious. You really think, with one minute left and a country waiting fifty years for a title, anyone would throw that away? He wanted to score, and I did my job stopping him. That’s it.”

Diaz finished as the tournament’s top scorer, but after the loss, he was left posing for photos with player of the tournament Sadio Mane and top goalkeeper Yassine Bounou—an awkward moment after such heartbreak.

Nigeria legend John Obi Mikel didn’t sugarcoat it on Channel 4: “That miss spoils everything Diaz did in this tournament. He’s going to be devastated for weeks, maybe months.”

Former Morocco international Hassan Kachloul agreed. “Diaz will have nightmares about this for days, but that’s football. He probably changed his mind a few times before that kick. Sadly, Morocco paid the price.”

Meanwhile, Sadio Mane earned plenty of praise for dragging his teammates back onto the field after their walk-off. Former Nigeria forward Daniel Amokachi called him “an ambassador for football”, saying, “He knows what this game is all about. Morocco only have themselves to blame—they had so many chances to win.”

Kachloul added, “What really stood out was Sadio Mane. He was the one who got his team back on the pitch. It shows what kind of person he is. He saved African football—and maybe world football, too—by bringing them back.”