Brahim's miss triggers Morocco's old traumas and conspiracy theories: "Did he miss it purposely?!"

Ever since a man set foot on the Moon for the first time (maybe even before that), up to this day, there have been hundreds of the craziest possible conspiracy theories around us. King Elvis is still alive, or at least he appeared in the 'Home Alone' movie years after his actual death, you know; oh, yes, and Paul McCartney of 'The Beatles' died in a car accident in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike Scottish orphan; and it goes on and on... All the way to the newest theory that has taken the world since last night - Brahim Diaz of Morocco intentionally missed the decisive, last-second penalty against Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final!

Crazy, unbelievable, insane? Not for some people, not for many people. The X, formerly known as Twitter, is already flooded with thousands of posts saying that Real Madrid forward failed to convert from the spot - purposely!?

Apparently, the setup looked like this: after the match descended into complete chaos following the decision of most Senegal players to leave the pitch, there was growing concern that they would forfeit and that Morocco would become champions in such highly scandalous circumstances. Therefore, they were promised that Brahim would intentionally miss the penalty, so the game would go into extra time to avoid more scandals, on-pitch brawls, and potential fights. Evidence for this insane theory? There are no such things, but they noticed two, in their view, suspicious moments. First, Diaz fired with his right, although he's more of a left-footed player. Unfortunately for the conspiracists, the same player took the penalty against Mali in the group stage with his right (and scored).

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Second, and most importantly for them, they can't get their head around the fact that not a single Senegalese player - except for the keeper Mendy himself - didn't celebrate a penalty save that pushed them away from the brink of the excruciating defeat. And that was enough to kickstart an insane campaign that went viral almost instantly.

Instead of - just, for instance - thinking rationally and facing the facts. And they say that it was the very ultimate moment of the continental tournament, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and not a single soul in the world would accept depriving themselves of that glory and happiness to make a deal with rivals. Moreover, this is the third time Morocco have suffered the same, horrible penalty trauma in the last few AFCONs.

It started with the 2019 AFCON Round of 16 loss to Benin, when Hakim Ziyech missed a penalty in the very last seconds of the stoppage time. The match went to extra time, then to a penalty shootout and the underdogs progressed to the next round. Sounds familiar?

The next traumatic penalty episode that still haunts the Atlas Lions happened a few years later, when Achraf Hakimi's late spot kick went over the crossbar in the Round of 16 clash with South Africa. Familiar again?

Exactly. The very same pattern, which struck again on Sunday night.

But the sorrowful reality is not as attractive as conspiracy theories, is it...

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