Dakar (AFP) - Senegal eagerly awaited the return of its champions on Monday, with streets decked out in banners and flags and the population given a national holiday following the country’s thrilling Africa Cup of Nations win over Morocco.

The team is expected to land at Dakar’s main airport later in the evening, with players to be greeted by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

A parade through the capital and reception at the presidential palace will follow on Tuesday, according to the country’s football federation.

Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations Sunday as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game.

On Monday afternoon, the din of vuvuzuelas, which never quite died out following the nighttime victory, began to crescendo again ahead of the players’ arrival, AFP reporters in the city’s downtown observed.

Following the win, Dakar, its suburbs and multiple other cities erupted with honking, vuvuzela horns, fireworks and celebratory dancing as hundreds of thousands of fans took to the streets.

After the night of jubilation, morning newspapers were ebullient: “Heroic!” Le Soleil wrote as its single-word headline, while L’Observateur simply called the triumph “Unforgettable”.

The win marks Senegal’s second title, after their 2022 victory over Egypt in Cameroon. It was the team’s third final in just the last four editions.

The players’ arrival is expected at 8:30 pm at Blaise Diagne International Airport just outside the capital, with the parade to start at 11:00 am Tuesday followed by a 4:00 pm reception with Faye, who has called the team members “patriots” and labelled the final a “victory for all Senegalese people”.

“From hell to paradise, the Lions experienced every emotion”, Le Soleil wrote, calling the tense and closely contested final a “crazy scenario”.

The ECOWAS regional bloc congratulated the team in a statement Monday on its “remarkable victory”, calling the win an “immense pride not only for the people of Senegal but also for the entire west African region”.

- Controversy abounds -

African football’s showpiece event was marred by most of the Senegal team walking off when, deep into injury time of normal play and with the match locked at 0-0, Morocco were awarded a spot-kick following a VAR check by referee Jean-Jacques Ndala for a challenge on Brahim Diaz.

Senegal were already furious at having a goal disallowed for a soft-looking foul minutes earlier.

As a group of their enraged fans fought with Moroccan security personnel at the other end of the stadium, Senegal’s players eventually returned to the pitch to see Diaz shoot a soft penalty into the arms of their goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

The contentious ending to the game was far from the only controversy, however.

Several days before the final, discord arose over the Senegalese players’ reception in Rabat, particularly for an alleged lack of security as they arrived at the city train station.

On Monday FIFA president Gianni Infantino condemned “some Senegal players” for the “unacceptable scenes” which overshadowed their victory.

African football’s governing body CAF did not allocate blame but said they would take “appropriate action” against those “found guilty”.

Several supporters in Dakar, their voices still hoarse, told AFP they were disappointed by such threats.

“With everything that happened before the final, during the final, are we the ones who should be punished, who should pay the price?” Senegal supporter Lucien Pinto asked.

For fan Pape Nassirou Soumah, the players “at least corrected their mistake”, he told AFP, adding that “after thinking about it, they realized that’s football. You play, you win, or you lose”.