Senegal head Pape Thiaw spoke to the media ahead of the 2025 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations final against host Morocco.
The clash on Sunday at the Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium in Rabat will see arguably the two best teams on the continent face off.
Either have won the title once in history with the Lions of Teranga clinching the crown in 2021 when they beat Egypt on penalties in Cameroon while Morocco’s triumph was way back in 1976.
Here are the key quotes from Thiaw
Morocco favourites but Egypt remains best team in Africa
Morocco are favorites even from FIFA ranking are ahead of us. They are 11th, we are 18th, I think. We have to congratulate them; they are favorites but for me the best African team is Egypt which has won 7. Morocco are still favorites we’ve worked hard to get here. This was a dream final for everyone and we’ve prepared well to play this game.
On Sadio Mane revelation that tomorrow’s game is his final Afcon match
If you are Sadio Mané, there’s a nation involved. Maybe he took this decision in a rush. The nation would like to see him continue playing. If it comes to me and I have to sign I don’t think I want to see him leave. We need to keep him.
On Senegal’s ‘unfair’ treatment yesterday as they arrived from Tangier to Rabat
We are not criticizing the organization. It’s been good everywhere. Morocco is a good organizer and we want this to continue. However, what happened yesterday should not happen
On the Morocco national team being a very good team
We know we are playing Morocco which is very good. We know they represented Africa at the World Cup in the semis in Qatar. They also won the U20 World Cup. We have to be well prepared.
Meanwhile, defender Moussa Niakhatte who also attended the press conference says players want to send off Sadio Mane with a second star.
“For him we’d like to give him this second star so that he can be recognized as one of the best players on the continent”.
From the streets in Morocco, the locals have always favoured Senegal with the two nations have a good relationship and decent diplomatic ties.
Niakhate said; “We are two brotherly countries. This relationship should not be spoilt. Tomorrow we’ll have only one winner. Either Morocco or ourselves. We’ll do our best to win it. We’ll be very determined we want to go back to Dakar with the cup to celebrate with our fans”