Senegal forward Sadio Mane will miss his team’s “first games” at the World Cup in Qatar because of injury, according to a member of the nation’s football federation.
Abdoulaye Sow, a second vice-president at the federation, said Senegal would have to cope without their best player for the start of the tournament and “not whine too much”.
“We will have to rely on playing the first games without Sadio and win without Sadio because we have 25 players apart from Sadio,” Sow said, in quotes reported by the Associated Press.
“No one would have wanted it, but that’s what’s happened to us.”
Sow did not specify how many games Mane is expected to miss, and there has been no update on the forward’s fitness since he was called up to be part of the team heading to Qatar for the World Cup.
The 30-year-old striker was named last week in Senegal’s 26-man squad for the World Cup, which starts on Sunday, despite picking up an injury to his right fibula playing for Bayern Munich in the run-up to the tournament.
Senegal’s coach Aliou Cisse said Mane, whose decisive penalties secured the Africa Cup of Nations title and World Cup qualification for his country this year, did not require surgery but hopes of him lining up against Netherlands on 21 November appear slim.
Mane was hurt in Bayern Munich’s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen last week. He was replaced in the 20th minute of the game, and the club later said he suffered an injury to the fibula bone in his lower right leg.
Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann had said on November 11 that Mane would likely have a follow-up scan in 10 days’ time to assess his progress.
“Its obvious Senegal would like him to play,” Nagelsmann said. “But if he’s in pain, he can’t play. The medical things are more important than the sporting ones. That’s the case with us and also with everyone else.”
Source: Reuters, Herald Live, The Athletic, SuperSport, image from Twitter: @UsherKomugisha