BRAHIM DIAZ’s horror Afcon final penalty caused a Channel 4 commentator to ask if he missed it “on purpose”.
The Real Madrid star was left inconsolable after his shock Panenka penalty was gobbled up by Edouard Mendy.
Diaz, 26, was presented with the opportunity to fire Morocco to glory in the dying moments of the final in Rabat.
He took the responsibility of the spotkick after he had gone down in the box due to a challenge from West Ham man El Hadji Malick Diouf.
The forward had already netted five times in the tournament but had a lot of time to think about his penalty.
This was because the Senegal team had stormed off the pitch in protest against the penalty decision.
Sadio Mane convinced them to return to the field of play after 13 minutes and give Diaz the chance to score the penalty.
However, the former Manchester City ace fluffed the opportunity as Mendy caught his chipped effort.
Many have claimed that Diaz had not missed the crucial kick deliberately such as Mendy and Morocco boss Walid Regragui.
The miss proved to be costly as Pape Gueye would then score an extra-time winner for Senegal to break Moroccan hearts.
The miss left commentator Paul Walker stunned as they even suggested that he might have meant to miss.
He said live on air: “There’ll be a few thinking this, I’m gonna say it.
“Did he miss it on purpose? Could he have missed it… is there any way that he could have missed that on purpose?”
Then co-commentator Efan Ekoku added: “I don’t see that.
“I honestly don’t see how a professional player would not take advantage of a gift.”
There were many fans watching who also had the same opinion as they reacted on social media.
One posted: “Brahim Diaz showed true spirit of sportsmanship and purely missed that on purpose.”
A second commented: “Brahim Díaz pen miss is very suspect.”
A third said: “That brother wanted to miss the penalty.”
Mendy played down the speculation and insisted that the miss was not planned.
He said: “Come on, let’s be serious.
“Do you really think that with one minute left, when a whole country has been waiting for this for fifty years
“You think we’re going to come to an agreement?
“He wanted to score, I deserve credit for stopping him, that’s all. We need to stop there.”
Regragui argued that Diaz could have been put off by the long delay due to the Senegal protests.
He said: “He had a lot of time before taking the penalty which must have disturbed him.
“But we can’t change what happened. That is how he chose to take the penalty. We need to look forwards now.”
Diaz clearly felt the weight of his error as he was left in tears after the horror moment.
The ace had to be consoled by his team-mates on the pitch as he was so upset.
Diaz also felt the brunt of the miss on social media as he was bombarded with messages.
On one of his Instagram posts, he was sent almost 300,000 messages in the comment section.
Many of the comments came from Morocco fans offering the star support following his miss.
