Kalidou Koulibaly Refused To Lift AFCON Trophy By Himself As Requested

Kalidou Koulibaly refused to lift the Africa Cup Of Nations trophy by himself amongst a crew of corporate people last night.

Senegal won the prize for the first time in the country's history after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Egypt in Cameroon.

Skipper Koulibaly had the honour of being the first player from Senegal to lift the prize but the trophy presentation ended up being very long and confusing.

The trophy was taken into the stands where they were a host of different representatives from various federations, with Koulibaly escorted up there.

It seems as though Koulibaly was being asked to do a solo trophy lift after it was handed over by Cameroon president Paul Biya.

But the Napoli defender was not having it in the slightest. He walked back down with the trophy in hand, shared an embrace with manager Aliou Cisse and waited to lift it with the whole squad.

Wait for it... keep waiting... just a little longer...

The long-awaited trophy lift - with ALL of the Senegal squad! 🏆

Senegal are #AFCON2021 champions! 🇸🇳 pic.twitter.com/6KpUHmNZd3

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 6, 2022

The men in suits have been best pleased by Koulibaly's snub but football fans loved his antics:

Loved it how Koulibaly didn’t want to lift the #AFCON2021 trophy among the men in suits and went down to his teammates.

Proper captain. pic.twitter.com/uJZyArW2ko

— David Kappel (@kappilinho) February 6, 2022

What is this nonsense?? Where are they taking him. Just give him the bloody cup. pic.twitter.com/zcY18yEe7B

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) February 6, 2022

Well done Koulibaly. Ended this nonsense and taking trophy back to his team. pic.twitter.com/NwjdC0OhCg

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) February 6, 2022

Still thinking about how that trophy presentation had big colonial energy but Koulibaly was not here for it.

— Musa Okwonga (@Okwonga) February 6, 2022

Koulibaly celebrated by sleeping with his medal on while cuddling the trophy he and Senegal had just won.

Koulibaly slept with his medal and trophy in his hands. Dare take it from him. No complaint of missen trophy! All correct 👌

Captain extraordinaire pic.twitter.com/75Wa7HmUe4

— LordHanson (@Ehansoni1) February 7, 2022

Speaking after the game, the former Genk man could not hide his delight and reserved praise for Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who made a crucial save in the shoot-out.

"We feel happy," Koulibaly said.

"We knew it would be hard to win the Africa Cup of Nations but today we made it.

"Our team deserved to win this title. We had been looking for this for a long time and now we have it. This team is magnificent.

"It was a tough game and a tough tournament. We made it with our team and our power.

"Our goalkeeper is the best in the world and we win the title."

Senegal's triumph came 20 years after their manager Cisse experienced heartbreak in the 2002 final when he missed in the penalty shoot-out.