Koulibaly lifts the trophy! What a night for Senegal.
Thanks for joining me!
Here is Jonathan Wilson’s match report.
They have had to take it to the president of Cameroon in stands and he is handing it over to Koulibaly. What silly little idea. Koulibaly is now walking the trophy back down to the team.
Infantino is walking off with the trophy. What an emotional night for Infantino to turn up and take credit. They are off high into the stands, but the Senegal squad are still on the pitch. This is very silly.
Egypt come up to get their medals. Needless to say, they do not look too happy with silver.
The officials all get a medal. They all seem to have taken a ball too. One asks all the dignitaries to sign it, which is ironically undignified.
Sadio Mane gets the player of the tournament, I think.
Edouard Mendy wins the goalkeeper of the tournament award. The biggest cheer of the night comes for Aboubakar for winning the golden boot.
Aliou Cisse is in tears on the pitch too. Fair play to him.
Gianni Infantino is here to take credit for something or other, I assume.
The trophy has been placed on a small plinth by Roger Milla.
Fair play to Egypt goalkeeper Gabaski for winning Man of the Match. Very much the real quiz in all of this.
Not sure anyone was supporting Egypt there outside of Cairo.
@Will_Unwin thanks for the lovely updates on an otherwise dreadful match. Was rooting for Egypt but still sort of happy with the outcome. That’s what you get for half-assing it 🤷🏽♀️
— Sarah Khalil (@Sarah_Khalil) February 6, 2022
Bottle.
SADIO MANE WINS IT FOR SENEGAL!!! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jtdB8hYXOJ
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 6, 2022
Oh well ...
That is why your best penalty taker should never go fifth. Mo Salah not taking a penalty for Egypt in a shootout in a final is madness. Also happened to Ronaldo years ago for Portugal v Spain. #AFCON2021 #SENEGY
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) February 6, 2022
Incredible bottle from Mane to step up and take the winning penalty after his earlier failure. And what a pen! Whipped it right into the corner.
The Senegal fans are going absolutely crazy in the stands. It’s great to see. There are plenty of Egyptian tears on the pitch.
Salah will look back on this and be fuming that Egypt never even tried to win the final. Woeful stuff.
Updated
Senegal deserve to win their first Africa Cup of Nations as they actually tried to win the final. Egypt never even attempted to play football.
Mane runs off in celebration and is chased by all his teammates while Salah is on the ground on the halfway line in tears.
SENEGAL WIN THE AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS ON PENALTIES
Mane steps up to make amends for his earlier penalty miss. HE FINDS THE CORNER AND IT ALL GOES OFF!
Updated
Penalty shootout, Senegal 3-2 Egypt. Lasheen misses. Mendy goes to his right and saves it. Mane to win it ...
Updated
Penalty shootout, Senegal 3-2 Egypt: Dieng scores. Into the roof of the net.
Penalty shootout, Senegal 2-2 Egypt: Hamdi scores. The sub calmly slots the ball into the corner.
Penalty shootout, Senegal 2-1 Egypt: Sarr MISSES. Gabaski goes to his right and saves. A poor penalty.
Updated
Penalty shootout, Senegal 2-1 Egypt: Abdelmonem MISSES. He sends Mendy the wrong way but hits the post.
Penalty shootout, Senegal 2-1 Egypt: Diallo scores. He sidefoots it just beyond the outstretched hand of the goalkeeper.
Penalty shootout, Senegal 1-1 Egypt: Zizo scores. He whacks it down the middle with incredible force.
Penalty shootout, Senegal 1-0 Egypt: Koulibaly scores. The Senegal captain just gets the ball under Gabaski.
Senegal will take the first penalty ... Koulibaly is walking up.
The referee is explaining how the goal-line works. I think they know, mate.
Gabaski has a water bottle with advice on the penalty takers. Classic.
Gabaski has been the better goalkeeper today, so Egypt will confident he can do a job for them again. Mendy has made a few little mistakes and lacked concentration at times. He needs to refocus for this.
Updated
Fair play to Egypt for dragging this out for 120 mins. What a night for all of us.
Full-time: Senegal 0-0 Egypt
As we knew from the seventh minute onwards, we are going to penalties.
119 mins: I think Salako just referred to Aboubakar as the “Golden Boat winner”. What a prize!
118 mins: Nick should have told us about this earlier.
A couple of the media corps in this press box appear to be on a date and have spent the game watching music videos on YouTube together – lucky if their relationship survives the fare on the pitch tbh.
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) February 6, 2022
117 mins: Hamdi moves the ball quickly to rifle a shot from 16 yards but it is straight at Mendy who tips it over. This is about as exciting as the match has got. The corner comes in from the left and it looks like an easy catch for Mendy but he fails to grasp it and gives Egypt another corner.
115 mins: Dieng thwacks a shot from about 22 yards towards goal but Gabaski gets down to the right to palm it wide.
Colum Fordham has been in touch to say: “As a Liverpool fan, I had been looking forward to this match and the prospects of an exciting Salah vs Manè encounter. Based in Naples, I also had added interest of Koulibaly which has tipped the scales in favour of Senegal who have at least tried to play football. Quite frankly, Egypt’ s defensive approach has taken Egyptian football back to the second dynasty.
“And, as my Chesea-supporting friend Jeff has pointed out, Manè is guilty of ruining the game by dint of his appalling penalty.”
113 mins: When Salah tucks away the winning penalty, a lot of Liverpool fan boys on Twitter are going to be discussing how he deserved it and made the difference in this tournament. They will not have watched it.
“Sorry, only just got in,” says Tom Hopkins. “What have I missed?”
Mane missed a penalty. That’s about it.
111 mins: A player from each side is treated after a clash, which is good news for timewasters.
“I’m guessing this isn’t exactly the auspicious return of BBC Three that licence payers were looking for,” suggests Gary Byrne.
Get Gavin and Stacey on.
109 mins: Ciss goes right across Zizo on the right. The referee does not book him, though, maybe he has lost his cards.
Gabaski is trying to wake the crowd up with some fist pumping.
107 mins: Gabaski comes out to collect a long ball and then hugs it on the ground to waste a few more seconds.
“Riveted to my couch here in Waterford, Ireland,” says John G. “this MBM is fantastic. If only there were as much creativity on the field of play. Penalties it will be - I can’t take this level of excitement on a Sunday night.”
Second half of extra-time
Just 15 more minutes to go.
Rob Marriott emails: “I think there is perhaps an important difference between this Egyptian side and Greece in 2004. The Greeks were huge underdogs, finding a way to win that may have been tedious but was in its way kind of impressive, given their limitations.
“Egypt, on the other hand, seven-time winners, huge resources compared to most African nations, arguably the best forward in the world... of course they’ve got every right to be relentlessly negative and to win in whatever way they can, if that’s what they want to do, but it does feel a bit annoying that a country with such advantages is so miserably cynical.
“Anyhow, I’ll congratulate them through gritted teeth in advance of their win on penalties. Well done for staying awake through this.”
Half-time in extra-time: Senegal 0-0 Egypt
105 mins: Mane dives over the leg of Abdelmonem but the referee bottles booking him. This referee is dreadful.
In the original 90 minutes, the ball was in play for 40 minutes and 26 seconds. Awful stuff.
104 mins: Egypt are pretty much icing the puck here by whacking it long to no one just to get rid.
“Loving the AFCON final coverage,” emails Samuel Dodson. “Less so the actual match. Shades of England Vs Algeria at the 2010 World Cup (a game so painfully dull it is seared deeply into sinews of my nervous system). But overall think this Egyptian team reminds me most of that Rangers team that somehow got to a europa league (/UEFA cup) final, through sheer dint of playing agonisingly negative football and grinding out painful result after painful result. While Salah is surely the best in the world right now, fear we will all need some heavy pain meds if this goes on much longer.
“Should I give up and switch to the curling?”
The Winter Olympics liveblog will follow this.
102 mins: A fine corner from the right is attacked by Diallo but he sends his header goes well wide.
100 mins: *Raises laptop to the sky*.
Trezeguet receives the ball 14 yards out from goal, he spins on it but his shot is a trickle at best.
Down the other end Ciss lifts a cross into the area for Dieng to attack, he flashes a header across goal but Gabaski is equal to it.
Juuso Sallinen says: “At least one can see some progress, when watching paint drying. Egypt seems only to regress. Not sure they remember how football is played anymore.
“Thanks for great coverage. Makes this more fun to watch.”
*Bursts into tears*
98 mins: The Egyptians are wasting time like its an art form. Sadly, the referee is letting them.
Lasheen is ready to come on for Egypt.
What Jonathan says.
This referee is scandalously weak.
— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) February 6, 2022
96 mins: Salah is called for offside, which at least means Egypt are trying to attack.
“Hi Will, spiffing coverage,” email Ben. “From Anfield to Olembe, I am on to watching my fourth game of the day. Can anyone top that tally?”
What a life you lead, Ben. We are all very jealous. Must be nice to be single.
94 mins: Senegal have a free-kick in a dangerous position on the right but like almost all of their set-pieces today, it is awful and goes out for a throw-in.
Updated
92 mins: Mane lifts a pass through for Dieng to chase. He reaches the ball first and whacks a shot across the goalkeeper but he gets down quickly to save it.
“Thoroughly enjoying your MBM,” Edward Graves states (I deserve praise for watching this and I will publish it), “in contrast to your experience with the actual match. Question: how does this compare to Greece’s unlikely triumph in Euro 2004? Or Chelsea managing to take Bayern to penalties in the CL final in 2012? Those are the best examples I can think of ultra-defensive tactics paying dividends in a final.”
This game needs more Ryan Bertrand. I watched both of those games but can’t remember them, so they must have been awful.
Updated
Extra-time
Here we go again (again)!
Full-time: Senegal 0-0 Egypt
Another 30 minutes to go. I am off to find wine.
Updated
90+2 mins: Leroy Rosenior says Senegal are “slowly losing belief”. They are not alone, Leroy.
90 mins: Zizo sends in a free-kick from deep which goes just over everyone’s head.
Three minutes added on.
89 mins: Mane chases the ball into the corner but loses his footing slightly on a loose bit of turf. Soon after the Liverpool forward is booked for a late challenge on Ashour. This allows Egypt to pretty much halt play until the end of the 90 mins.
“Would you resign your job if you were assigned the MBM for the upcoming two legs between these teams for the World Cup playoff?” asks James Burrows. Technically, I do not have a job to resign from.
Updated
87 mins: Elneny goes down under a challenge from Pape Gueye. He then gives his teammates a nod to acknowledge how clever he’s been.
85 mins: When Egypt inevitably win this on penalties, I am going to have to say how well their gameplan worked. But, for now, I will criticise how awful they are to watch.
Peter Oh says: “The Egyptian goalie may not be the first choice keeper but he keeps coming up with the goods! Huge play by the big Gabaski. The dude abides!”
Peter has been waiting all tournament to use this gag.
83 mins: Is there any way this is not heading to extra-time?
81 mins: GABASKI IS DOWN WITH AN INJURY! The delaying tactics from Egypt are in full flow and what a dreadful watch it is. Or so I thought ... as Sobhi warms up on the sidelines. He is currently uncapped. Incredibly mind games from Egypt.
79 mins: Bouna Sarr speeds down the right to provide an overlap. He receives a pass on the byline and drives a cross along the six-yard line but, once again, there is no one there to meet it.
Fathi slides in to take down Mane on the edge of the box but gets away without a second booking. This referee is pretty poor.
77 mins: Egypt have decided to attack! This is all very strange as they put Senegal on the backfoot. They win a corner on the left, which is whipped to the near post but Senegal clear it to relieve the pressure.
Dia and Dieng join the party. Diedhiou and Ismaila depart.
75 mins: Trezeguet lifts a beautiful cross into the box from the left for Hamdi to attack from six yards out but he can only flick it wide. What a moment for Egypt. Will they come to regret that?
Peter Littley emails: “Maybe the inevitable penalty shoot out should be determined by the number shots on target in normal time. Senegal currently has 4, Egypt has 2. Four attempts for Senegal and only 2 for Egypt in the shoot out. See what boredom does! Clearly my medication isn’t working.”
We are all pretty bored, I can assure you.
73 mins: Mane, who I suspect is a little frustrated, dives in on Ashour and gives away a free-kick. The Egyptian coaching staff then have a good laugh with the referee, I assume over all those free-kicks he is giving for Koulibaly doing his job.
71 mins: Koulibaly is penalised again for jumping and winning a header. The Egyptian did not jump. I am not sure the referee is very good or understands football.
69 mins: Zizo curls a free-kick from the left into the box for the Egyptians to attacks. Abdelmonem gets ahead of everyone else but flicks the ball over the bar.
“The Wood have won,” emails Joe Pearson. “That was some performance!”
67 mins: Senegal send on Marseille’s Pape Gueye for Kouyate as they look to freshen things up in midfield.
65 mins: Egypt are playing it out from the back impressively slowly.
“Sounds like the stoppages could fill a ball by ball report!” says Ian Copestake.
Updated
63 mins: Whenever it looks like Egypt are about to launch an attack, I take a sip of my water as I know it will come to nothing.
61 mins: Senegal play a neat free-kick but Egypt have so many bodies inside their own box they quickly nullify the threat.
59 mins: Egypt have made a triple substitution as they are already looking very tired and have a few players on bookings. Trezeguet, Zizo and Hamdi on; Marmoush, Mohamed and El Soleya off.
57 mins: Ciss drives into the area and sends another cross into the six-yard box for Diedhiou to attack but he makes no contact at the near post.
I agree with Ed, for once.
Feels like Senegal will be made to pay if they don’t take one of these chances soon…
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) February 6, 2022
55 mins: Diallo sprints into the back of Salah for absolutely no reason other than to get himself booked.
If I were to pick a kit, I would go with a nice Ivory Coast orange number, Ruth.
53 mins: Another dangerous cross along the six-yard line goes into the Egypt box but Diedhiou can’t move his feet quick enough to get a shot away, allowing Gabaski to claim.
“Favourite shirt/kit of this championship?” asks Ruth Purdie.
51 mins: Gueye receives the ball on the left-hand side of the area, he gets it out of his feet and fires off a shot but his connection is poor and the goalkeeper gobbles it up.
49 mins: Mane is taken down on the edge of the box by Fathi from behind. Gueye lines it up but sends his shot a long way over the bar.
47 mins: Egypt have started by wasting time taking a goal-kick. What fun this half will be.
Second half
Here we go again!
“Since I don’t have Bein,” says Joe Pearson. “I’m closely following your MBM as well. At the same time, really enjoying Boreham Wood leading Bournemouth 1-0 in the FA Cup with 20 minutes to go.”
We’re a broad church, Joe.
Egypt like timewasting, so I am anticipating this will be going to penalties.
Half-time: Senegal 0-0 Egypt
Mane will be ruing his missed penalty at this stage, that’s for sure. Senegal look like a decent football team, while Egypt do not.
45 mins: Koulibaly is booked for an aerial challenge on Mohamed. He catches the Egyptian in the back of the head but it is not a booking. Poor refereeing.
Two minutes added on.
Rotimi Styles Obisesan asks: “What happens if Salah decides to collect the card and whistle offered to him by the Ref?”
It would make it an occasion, that’s for sure.
43 mins: A ludicrous pass from the Egypt left-back position is intercepted by Mane but when Senegal get into the box they are crowded out.
Down the other end, Salah collects the ball on the right, drives for the area and pings a shot towards the near post but Mendy sees it and tips it over.
41 mins: Egypt will be loving the stop-start nature of this fixture as we close on half-time.
39 mins: Ismaila Sarr lifts in a free-kick which Diedhiou flicks towards goal from 16 yards but it goes straight at Gabaski who easily holds on.
Mendy goes down holding his face after supposedly being hit by Mohamed’s arm. There is contact but there is certainly nothing malicious in it. Egypt will be pleased the game has slowed down again.
37 mins: Mane is sandwiched in a tackle by two Egyptians. The referee deems it necessary to book Fathi for his involvement. Salah then spends a good while moaning at the referee who offers him his whistle and cards to see if he fancies doing the gig.
35 mins: Ismaila Sarr gets his cross all wrong, miscuing it out for a goal-kick as he lifts the ball over the net tamely.
33 mins: Fathy lays a pass from the edge of his own box towards the halfway line but it is intercepted by Kouyate. Luckily for Egypt, they quickly retrieve the ball to end a potentially dangerous situation.
31 mins: Egypt’s big plan is to ping some long balls. You would not pay to watch them as a team. Fair play to them for getting this far on the back of being disciplined but they are not good to watch.
Updated
29 mins: Senegal have got a number of dangerous low crosses into the box already but never had someone in the right position to convert them. Mayne they need to do a bit of goal-hanging in the middle of the six-yard box.
Down the other end, Salah has his first notably involvement as he dribbles into the area, jinking one way and then another. He opens up his body to curl a shot at goal but he scuffs his effort, allowing Mendy to gratefully fall onto the ball.
And a bit from African football expert, Ed Aarons:
All Senegal so far but yet to find a breakthrough against this Egyptian defence. Salah comes to life with a mazy dribble but can’t find the finish
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) February 6, 2022
27 mins: Ashour is down on the deck bemoaning some ailment or other. He looks unhappy but he could just be desperately trying to waste time. There is more than an hour to go, lads!
25 mins: Egypt ping a long ball for Marmoush to try and latch onto but the pass bounces into Mendy’s hands. This will be an industrial game from Egypt.
23 mins: Senegal are looking to spread the play in the hope of moving the Egyptian defensive unit around, which helped them win the early penalty. Ismaila Sarr receives the ball in the box and once again flashes it across the face of goal but it is too powerful for Mane, who is forced to watch it pass him.
“Dear Will,” emails Jukka Itäkylä, “let it be known from Finland to anyone, let alone any doctor, that without this free service I would be a sick patient in a hospital.”
One in the eye for Dr N. I hope you enjoy your holiday and that no one with access to your house invites a big dog round!
21 mins: Egypt providing as much needle as possible in this match to ensuring the game slows down to a snail’s pace to suit their style.
Absolutely not in Egypt's interests to keep this game flowing and, sure enough, they aren't.
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) February 6, 2022
19 mins: Sarr drives down the right win and earns enough space to flash the ball across box but no one is there to turn it home from three yards.
17 mins: Mendy goes into the book for a foul on Marmoush. It looks like he catches him on the top of the boot, so it’s fair enough.
15 mins: Egypt are knocking it around a bit as they enjoy their first bit of sustained possession but their slow-paced attack means they are very easy to defend against.
13 mins: Salah lifts a free-kick into the box for Hamdi to head back across goal but he gets underneath the ball, making it easy for Mendy to catch.
“Please can you tell us what is happening at the half minute too?” asks Dr N. “We are on holiday on the African continent and very interested.”
I hope you are enjoying this free service Dr N.
11 mins: Senegal look like the better team, that’s for sure. They are moving the ball a lot quicker and look dangerous in possession. Egypt will have to rely heavily on their organisation to keep this at 0-0.
9 mins: Well ... this has been a lively start. I feel Mane will be very keen to make up for his error, as it was an underwhelming penalty from him. Looks like the goalkeeper played some mind games with Mane and it paid off.
Huge if true.
It's also live on CAF TV on YouTube...
— Rob Bethell (@robertdbethell) February 6, 2022
PENALTY SAVE! Senegal 0-0 Egypt
7 mins: The Liverpool striker steps up and whacks the ball almost down the middle allowing Gabaski to move slightly to his right to save.
Updated
4 mins: PENALTY TO SENEGAL! Ciss chests the ball down and drives into the box where Abdelmonem slides in to clean him out. The bad news for Senegal is Ciss is still down needing treatment.
Updated
2 mins: Egypt look eager to get the ball forward, while Senegal are more composed and happy to build up more slowly.
Good news from Les Brown in France: “The good news in France is that it’s available not only to those with a BEIN subscription but also free-to-air on TMC.”
Kick-off!
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
The teams wander out onto the pitch. Salah leads out the Egyptians.
Updated
Our man in Cameroon.
Looks like the crowd won't be too bad in here tonight – definitely more than attended the Cameroon-Egypt semi. Capped at 80% in any case ... so I expect around 35,000, which feels decent given the circumstances.
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) February 6, 2022
“Hi Will,” says Jonathan Denness, “disappointing that most of mainland Europe isn’t broadcasting the final. Here in Belgium I can’t find any broadcaster who is showing it. Probably lots of African streams that I don’t know about or don’t want to know about but still.”
This is putting a lot more pressure on my typing and I am not sure I am up to it.
Judging by Egypt’s love of a penalty shootout, I am assuming this one will be going all the way. Settle in.
It’s a very defensive lineup in the Sky Sports studio with Chris Samba and Sol Bamba being ably supported by Quinton Fortune, who will provide plenty of industry in midfield.
This Nick Ames article is very much worth your time.
The exciting news is that in the UK the final will be shown live on the newly relaunched BBC Three. The channel that brought you Gavin and Stacey (and some other programmes) is the only place for such a momentous occasion.
“I had my booster jab at the Carlos Quieroz stadium complex here in Lisbon the other day,” emails Paulo Biriani. “The place looked a bit worn out in places but the organisation was unbelievably efficient and lacking in any drama. Metaphors and all that ...”
I assume Mo Salah is somewhere in this metaphor as the jab itself.
Get in the mood with some Jonathan Wilson.
Starting lineups
Senegal: E Mendy, Ciss, Koulibaly, Diallo, B Sarr, Gueye, N Mendy, Kouyate, Mane, Diedhiou, I Sarr
Egypt: Gabaski, Ashour, Abdelmonem, Hamdi, El Fotouh, Elneny, El Soleya, Fathi, Salah, Mohamed, Marmoush
Good evening
Here we are at the final stage of this/last year’s Africa Cup of Nations. There is heightened interest thanks to the simple Sadio Mane v Mohamed Salah narrative as the Liverpool forwards go head-to-head to decide who is the king of Africa.
There is, however, much more to Senegal v Egypt. The Pharaohs have not looked particularly exciting under Carlos Quieroz in this tournament, needing two penalty shootouts to make it through the knockout stages. They have only scored four goals in normal time during the competition, half of them from Mohamed Salah who they heavily rely on to produce the goods.
Senegal have not set the word alight either, scraping through the group stage thanks to a 1-0 win and two goalless draws, which is nothing to write home about by anyone standards, let alone a supposed top international side. Things have started to click since and they have netted eight in the knockout matches, so will feel confident and causing a number of problems to the rigid Egyptian backline.
Let’s hope for a cracker.
Kick-off 7pm (GMT)
