Thierry Henry immediately throws out Jamie Carragher AFCON suggestion after chaotic final between Senegal & Morocco

The AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco proved to be an unmissable spectacle, with all manner of incidents occurring as the two teams clashed at Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah.

Senegal players left the field of play when referee Jean Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty in the 98th minute, with head coach Pape Thiaw livid after his side had a goal disallowed moments before that decision. Former Liverpool star Sadio Mane stayed put and tried to encourage his team-mates to return to the pitch, and eventually, after a delay of roughly 17 minutes, they came back.

Brahim Diaz took the penalty for Morocco but his Panenka attempt was easily gathered by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy before Ndala blew his whistle for full-time. Pape Gueye scored the winner in extra time to help Senegal lift the trophy, but the chaotic scenes continued after the game, with both Thiaw and Morocco boss Walid Regragui being chastised by journalists in the post-match press conferences.

Carragher has previously been criticised for suggesting that AFCON should not be considered a "major tournament" when discussing the legacy of Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and if he could win the Ballon d'Or.

Back in February last year, he said: "I think the problem is the fact he's with Egypt, and he's probably not playing in the major tournament as such, or maybe got a great chance of winning, I think it's either the Champions League or the major tournament. Normally, the player who excels in that."

Carragher later clarified his comments after a social media backlash: "I’ve got very strong opinions on the game, I love debate and that will never change. But what I never want to be described as as a pundit would be ignorant or disrespectful, so that was never my aim, whether that's to a club, a player, a country, a continent, an international tournament, whatever that may be. What I would say is, where I got it wrong was I was clumsy with my language, in describing AFCON as not a major tournament.

"I was trying to explain the merits of Mo Salah winning the Ballon d’Or and I felt, or feel, that not just AFCON, but the Asia Games or Gold Cup, not so much the Copa America, but there are five more competitions out there besides the World Cup that are for their continent a major tournament. Some of them don’t resonate with people who vote for the Ballon d’Or and that was not an opinion, that was a fact in terms of looking at who won the Ballon d’Or over the last 40 or 50 years."

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Carragher and Henry discussed the 2025 AFCON final on CBS Sports on Tuesday, with the former suggesting the officiating could be improved by having European referees in charge.

He asked: "You mention about the referees there, could there not be a case where they actually bring some of the top European referees [in to oversee AFCON matches]?"

Henry replied swiftly: "You have to give African referees a chance. It is an African tournament, it has to have African referees. 

"I'm talking about sending someone to put them to a certain level, because you can see there are more and more mistakes all of the time, and it does start to tarnish the tournament a bit. But people blame the tournament - it's not the tournament's fault, it's not the teams or players' fault."

Carragher's immediate attention will be on Liverpool's next game on Wednesday night, which is a Champions League clash with Marseille. A win in France would strengthen their position in the league phase table and Slot has already hinted that Salah, who scored four goals with Egypt as they came third at the AFCON, could start the fixture.

Liverpool are currently 11th after Tuesday evening's fixtures, which included wins for the likes of Real Madrid, Bodo/Glimt, Arsenal and Tottenham, but they could move as high as fourth if they manage to beat Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille side. The Ligue 1 outfit have won three and lost three of their six games in the competition, but have been victorious in their two most recent encounters against Newcastle United and Union Saint-Gilloise.