Pape Gueye was named Man-of-the-Match after his rocket helped Senegal to win the 35th Africa Cup of Nations, Softfootball reports.
The Terenga Lions beat Morocco 1-0 after 120 minutes to win Africa’s biggest competition. After the game ended goalless after 90 minutes. The Villarreal midfielder stepped up in the first half of extra time to score a terrific shot past Yassine Bounou in goal for the host.
Announcing the award on its official X handle, CAF celebrated the midfielder as the best player on the night after he scored the winning goal. They posted:
Pape Gueye wins the TotalEnergies Man of the Match in the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 final. 🇸🇳🌟
Pape Gueye has been an immense figure for Senegal at the 2025 AFCON, scoring goals and breaking up plays with aggressive tackles and incisive passing. He was very involved in the semifinals where Senegal beat Egypt 1-0 to reach the finals.
Senegal stopped Morocco, who was bidding to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in over 50 years. But they met an outstanding Terenga Lions team with the likes of the very impressive Pape Gueye.
Watch the goal by Pape Gueye incase you missed it. CAF shared the video via their official X handle. Watch below.
Superb finish. That whole play? Team. 🇸🇳#TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 | #WePlayDifferent pic.twitter.com/IL2wyIH0Ia
— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 19, 2026After losing in the final in both 2002 and 2019 editions of the AFCON, Senegal finally won the trophy in 2021, beating Egypt on penalties to win their first ever Africa Cup of Nations.
