Brahim Diaz has broken his silence with statement after his costly penalty miss against Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final.
Real Madrid star Diaz finished as the top scorer for the tournament, bagging five goals for hosts Morocco as they reached the final.
The former Manchester City player had the perfect chance to take his tally to sixth though when Morocco were awarded a controversial penalty after it was judged he had been fouled by El Hadji Malick Diouf of West Ham.
After the spot-kick was awarded in the second half, Senegal manager Pape Thiaw called for his players to walk off the pitch.
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They eventually returned after a long, chaotic delay and the penalty was taken in the 24th minute of injury time.
But Diaz wasted his opportunity when his Panenka penalty attempt was easily gathered by former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy after it went straight down the middle.
Villarreal's Pape Gueye scored an incedible winner for Senegal in the fourth minute of extra time to give them a second AFCON title and Spanish-born Diaz was left in tears as he collected his Golden Boot.
The forward apologised to his teammates in his dressing room and on Monday, he did the same to the Moroccan people on social media with a lengthy post.
He wrote: "My soul hurts. I dreamed of this title thanks to all the love you all gave me, every message, every show of support that made me feel I wasn’t alone. I fought with everything I had, with my heart above all else.
"Yesterday I failed and I take full responsibility. I apologize from the bottom of my heart. It will be hard for me to recover, because this wound doesn’t heal easily… but I will try. Not for myself, but for everyone who believed in me and for everyone who suffered with me.
"I will keep going forward until one day I can give you all this love back and become a source of pride for my Moroccan people."
Morocco have not won AFCON since 1976 and following on from the controversy, the nation's FA have said they will "pursue legal action with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA regarding the Senegalese national team's withdrawal".
Their manager Walid Regragui branded Senegal’s behaviour as “shameful” while FIFA president Gianni Infantino said what happened was "unacceptable".
Topics: Brahim Diaz, Morocco, Senegal
Josh Lawless