Senegal have confirmed that Sadio Mane will miss the 2022 World Cup as he requires surgery for the leg injury sustained earlier this month.
The Bayern Munich forward was a doubt for the early stages of the tournament due to a right fibula injury, but he was selected with the hopes that he’d be ready to take part after the “first games.”
On Thursday evening, Senegal team doctor Manuel Afonso revealed that he would not be able to fully recover from his injury in time and would therefore withdraw from the squad.
“Unfortunately, today’s [Thursday] MRI shows us that the improvement is not as favourable as we imagined and unfortunately we have to withdraw Sadio from the World Cup,” Afonso said in a video on the official Senegal Twitter account.
Mane suffered the injury in Bayern Munich’s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen in the last round of Bundesliga games before the tournament in Qatar.
He was replaced after only 20 minutes, and the club detected an injury to the “head of the fibula bone in his lower right leg” the next day.
Senegal announce Sadio Mané will miss the World Cup 💔 pic.twitter.com/SmO4ue47iI
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 17, 2022
According to a German outlet, the former Liverpool player will have surgery on Thursday evening in Innsbruck, Austria.
Sadio Mané will undergo surgery in Innsbruck this evening. No World Cup, as expected by Bayern after the first MRI scan on 9 November. @SPORT1
— Kerry Hau (@kerry_hau) November 17, 2022
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Mane has 30 goals in 93 appearances for his country, and his absence will be a major blow to the continental champions, who were hoping to escape Group A.
Senegal’s group stage begins with a tough game against the Netherlands on Monday, followed by matches against Qatar and Ecuador.
While this is a major loss to Senegal, Mane’s priority will be his recovery from injury.
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