The former Barnsley, Hull City, and Preston North End goalscorer Jon Parkin could not hide his shock at Brahim Diaz’s horror penalty in the AFCON final. Parkin attended whilst dressed as a lion. The EFL cult hero, in attendance for the final between Morocco and Senegal on the 18th of January.
Jon Parkin couldn’t believe his eyes. In what was an eventful 60 minutes of football, 20 of which never saw action. Senegal ran out winners, but not whilst after manager Pape Thiaw demanded The Lions of Teranga left the field, in protest to back to back late referee calls against his nation side. Thiaw has since admitted he “shouldn’t” have ordered his players to leave the pitch amid a controversial penalty call.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui claimed Senegal’s actions do not “honour Africa”.
The video above was shared on X and reshared by Parkin who wrote: “What on Earth have we just watched.”
Fans reacted to the post as they were not expecting to see either the retired striker or his brilliant costume.
One posted: “Don’t remember this bit in Wizard of Oz.”
A second commented: “When I thought this final had everything, and then the camera pans to Jon dressed as a Moroccan lion.”
Another said: “Jon Parkin dressed as a lion is probably the least surprising thing I’ve seen in this final.”
Senegal manager Pape Thiaw commented on his teams actions following an historic back-to-back AFCON victory. “I apologise for the football. After reflecting on it I made them come back [on the pitch] – you can react in the heat of the moment. We accept the errors of the referee. We shouldn’t have done it but it’s done and now we present our apologies to football.”
He said: “Football is something special, the world was watching, so we have to give a good image for football. I think it would be crazy to not play this game because what, the referee gave a penalty and we go out of the game? I think that would be the worst thing especially in African football. I’d rather lose than this kind of thing happen to our football.
“I think it’s really bad. Football should not stop for 10 minutes but what can we do? We have to accept what we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened happened.”
