Morocco manager Walid Regragui handed four-match ban after clashing with Chancel Mbemba following 1-1 AFCON draw against DR Congo… and admits he ‘regrets’ heated exchange

Morocco manager Walid Regragui has been handed a four-match ban after a clash with DR Congo defender Chancel Mbemba.

Ugly scenes broke out at full-time after the Atlas Lions were held to a 1-1 draw in their Africa Cup of Nations match against Morocco on Sunday.

According to L’Equipe, the altercation had taken place after Regragui approached Mbemba to shake his hand, but things quickly became heated as both players ran onto the pitch as the altercation escalated.

The bad-tempered row continued in the tunnel, with players and staff both seen in video chasing each other to the changing rooms.

Two of his match bans have been suspended for a year, but he will miss the next two games for the Atlas Lions.

Regragui said according to L’Equipe, per Morocco World Newshe said: ‘I held his hand and he started screaming, as evidenced by the photos and widely circulated videos.’

Morocco were back in action in their final Group F match against Zambia on Wednesday evening, but Regragui was not on the sidelines as his side won 1-0 to finish top of Group F.

But Regragui has now broken his silence, claiming he was ‘sorry’ about the on-field incident.

‘I have nothing to say about that. Maybe it was the adrenaline that made him react like that. There is no problem,” he said at a post-match press conference.

“I regret it because neither we nor the DRC got a good image.”

The CAF also imposed a fine of £15,716 ($20,000) on both federations, while the 48-year-old football coach was also fined £3,929 ($5,000).

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation stated that they would appeal what they called an ‘unfair’ decision, on the grounds that ‘at no time has coach Regragui violated the values ​​of Fair play.’

A scuffle broke out between players and staff of Morocco and DR Congo after their AFCON match

The altercation continued in the tunnel as staff and players from both teams clashed

After the match, Mbemba told the media: ‘I respect the coach, who is a great man. The TV cut the videos, but I have them.

“I don’t have to wave them. I’m silent, it’s better, that’s how I am. Everyone knows me, I respect everyone, I don’t have to shoot anyone, but God’s justice is there.’

Regragui told L’Equipe: ‘I said to Desabre (Dr. Congo’s coach): ‘Bring him back to me, he’s going crazy, he’s talking nonsense. I didn’t like it because it insinuates a lot of things.

‘So if he has different images than what we see on television, let him happily bring them out. And he will see exactly what happened. And that’s what happened… Before I went to shake his hand, he scrutinized me and my assistant on the sideline before the end of the game, he spoke badly to us. And Desabre knows it.

The 48-year-old coach was also awarded £3,929 ($5,000) by the CAF

Mbemba also received racist and insulting comments on his Instagram page after the match

“And at the end, despite that, I’m going to shake his hand and say, ‘Why are you talking to me like that?’

“And then he looks away, like, ‘I’m not shaking your hand.’ I held his hand, you can see it in the pictures, and he started screaming everywhere.

“I said, ‘You’re telling yourself!’ And he said, ‘You called me an idiot!’ It’s okay that he heard that, even if I never said it, but by talking the way he did, he’s implying that my words are racist and unfair.

“Since he only talks about religion in his speech, he has to be a little honest with himself.”