Yehvann Diouf, Senegal’s backup goalkeeper, recalled one of the most bizarre and controversial moments of the Africa Cup of Nations final: a fight over a simple towel with ball boys and Moroccan players. “Imagine this—a ball boy told me ‘play fair.’ And I replied, ‘Play fair? You’re the ones taking the towels, and I’m the one being unfair just for trying to hand them out?’ I was shocked; I didn’t understand it,” Diouf admitted.

During the match, rain began to fall, and Diouf made sure that Édouard Mendy, the starting goalkeeper, could keep his gloves dry to perform at his best. Footage of the backup protecting the towel and preventing the ball boys—and even Moroccan player Achraf Hakimi—from taking it went viral.

“We had already seen in the previous match how they enjoyed taking the towels from the Nigerian goalkeeper. We don’t know why. They did it during regular time and eventually managed to take it. Then, in extra time, when it really started raining, Mory Diaw went to bring towels to Édouard, and by the time I returned, they had already taken them,” Diouf recounted after OGC Nice’s victory over Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League.

The young goalkeeper didn’t give up and stayed by the goal to ensure Mendy had the towel nearby. “When I arrived, they did exactly the same thing. A Moroccan player ran after me trying to grab it, and then the ball boys and some official also got involved. I did all of this to make sure Édouard was in the best possible condition, because we needed a top goalkeeper to win the final,” he explained.

At one point, the situation became so absurd that Diouf ended up falling onto the pitch: “I almost went onto the field by myself, thinking the referee would stop the game. But no, I found myself on the ground, in the penalty area. I realized I was more of a hindrance than anything else, so I got up and moved elsewhere. It was surreal,” he concluded.

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