African Soccer Legend Criticizes Ivory Coast Captain’s Moroccan Flag Celebration

"It’s very mean towards the other players and the spectators to go up on the podium with the Moroccan flag. It’s not Morocco that made Ivory Coast win this AFCON. Ivory Coast was not repechaged. Ivory Coast qualified according to the regulations of the best 3rd," said the former Cameroonian international on the Ivorian television channel "La 3". For the record, the Moroccan team was repechaged at the last minute after Morocco’s victory over Zambia (1-0) in the third and final group stage match of the 2023 AFCON.

Roger Milla added that Gradel’s gesture "is very inappropriate". "I would have liked him to take the Ivorian flag and go up on the podium with it to first recover the Cup with his medal and then go celebrate with the spectators. It’s not up to the player to do it," insisted the former player who was intervening as a consultant. The former Indomitable Lions striker has incurred the wrath of Internet users after his anti-Moroccan remarks. Some netizens have simply invited him to "respect his glorious past".

This is not the first time that Roger Milla has made hostile remarks against Morocco. "The Maghreb countries, they are the ones who always cause trouble. They are the ones who always cause disorder, I’m sorry. I’m going to tell them here as their brother, whether it’s Morocco, Egypt or others, that it’s not normal," he had declared in an interview with TV5 monde in 2022. A statement that had caused controversy, forcing the Cameroonian to apologize later.