‘You wouldn’t see Sadio Mane washing his own underpants’ – Malawi boss unhappy at treatment of smaller nations at AFCON and makes reference to Liverpool star following last-16 defeat to Morocco

Malawi manager Mario Marinica has hit out at the treatment of smaller countries at the Africa Cup of Nations following his side's last-16 defeat to Morocco - and name-checked one of Liverpool's stars.

Marinica insisted bigger sides with more popular players get preferential treatment as he declared: "You don't see Sadio Mane washing his own underpants".

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Marinica was placed in temporary charge of the African minnows for the tournament in Cameroon.

His side crashed out of AFCON at the last-16 stage on Tuesday after PSG's Achraf Hakimi fired in a glorious free-kick for Morocco with 20 minutes to spare to send Malawi out of the competition.

And, following their exit, Marinica revealed his side have had to do their own laundry as he blasted officials for favouring nations with the bigger names.

He said: "You wouldn't see Sadio Mane washing his own underpants and hanging them on a bush to dry.

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"Gambia have the same problem, and there are different standards here, teams are being treated differently.

"We talk about inclusion, we want to have minnows, small teams doing fantastic things, but when it comes to the latter stages, people don't fancy us playing against Cape Verde and not Senegal playing Morocco.

"Certain questions have to be asked; why are these things happening to us, why only to the smaller teams, why only to Comoros, Gambia, us?"

Against the odds, Malawi progressed through to the last-16 by coming third in their group after beating Zimbabwe and earning a superb draw with Mane's Senegal.

And despite his side's valiant run in the competition, Marinica continued to pull no punches in his assessment of how smaller countries are treated.

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Marinica has followed through with his gripes, hoping that things will change for smaller nations in future.

He added: "I've asked my fellow colleagues and team leaders to lodge a formal complaint.

"I complained to the managers of the estate, and at the current [hotel] we struggled for three days before things were sorted out.

"I couldn't have milk for coffee, they said the milk was finished until tomorrow.

"We are treated like second-class citizens, but if you're a hotel manager and you see this happening, you take charge, you can't allow it in this day and age, at this level of competition."