Morocco manager handed four-match ban after clashing with Chancel Mbemba

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

Ugly scenes erupted at full-time after the Atlas Lions were held to a 1-1 draw during their Africa Cup of Nations clash against Morocco on Sunday.

According to L'Equipe, the altercation had occurred after Regragui approached Mbemba to shake hands with him, but things became heated quickly with both sets of players running on to the field as the altercation escalated.

The ill-tempered spat continued down down the tunnel with players and staff both being seen in a video chasing eachother into the changing rooms.

While two of his match bans have been suspended for a year, he was banned from the Atlas Lions' next two matches, which included thier 1-0 victory against Zambia on Wednesday night.

Regragui said according to L'Equipe, per Morocco World News: 'I held his hand, and he started screaming as is evident in pictures and the widely circulated videos.'

But Regragui has now broken his silence, claiming that he had 'regreted' the on-field incident.

'I have nothing to say about that. Maybe it was the adrenaline that made him respond like that. There's no problem,' he said in a post-match press conference.

'I regret [it] because neither we nor the DRC were given a good image.'

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

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation stated that they would appeal what they called an 'unfair' decision on the grounds that it 'coach Regragui did not violate any moment the values of Fair play.'

After the game, 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 need to swing them. I keep my silence, it's better, that's how I am. Everyone knows me, I respect everyone, I don't need 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 images other than what we see on television, let him take them out, with pleasure. And he'll see exactly what happened. And that's what happened... Before I went to shake his hand, he took me and my assistant to task on the sidelines before the end of the game, he spoke badly to us. And Desabre knows it.

'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 on the pictures, and he started screaming all over the place.

"I said, "You're telling it to yourself!" And he's like, "You called me an idiot!" It's okay that he heard that, even though I never said it, but by speaking the way he did, he's implying that my words are racist, it's dishonest.

'Since he only talks about religion in his speech, let him be a little honest with himself.'