Source: Africa Publicity
French striker, Kylian Mbappe, on Saturday night, dedicated his panenka penalty against Villarreal to his Real Madrid teammate Brahim Diaz.
The dedication follows Diaz’s Africa Cup of Nations nightmare.
Diaz had a brilliant AFCON but crucially missed his Panenka penalty in Morocco’s final loss to Senegal in Rabat on Sunday, January 18, 2026.
And aearly a week on from that heartbreak, Mbappe paid tribute to 26-year-old Diaz at Villarreal in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win. Mbappe scored both goals against Villarreal, sending Madrid to the top of the La Liga table.
Moments after Senegal had a goal controversially disallowed in the AFCON final earlier this month, Diaz won a hotly debated penalty, which led The Lions of Teranga to walk off the pitch in protest. Following a lengthy delay, Diaz failed to execute his questionable Panenka penalty, and Senegal went on to win the final in extra-time. In the aftermath of that agonising defeat, the Madrid man admitted he had “failed” and apologised from the “bottom of my heart”.
He wrote on Instagram: “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 apologise 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.”
