African footballers. Sadio Mane ruled out of World Cup. Crushing blow to Senegal as teams talisman Sadio Mane is removed from the World Cup squad.
Mane suffered a right fibula injury playing for Bayern earlier this month but was named in the World Cup squad in the hope he could regain fitness. We wrote about it here: Sadio Mane named as part of Senegal’s World Cup Squad despite injury concerns
But a further MRI scan was completed on Thursday that showed surgical intervention was needed.
“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,” said Manuel Afonso in a video on the official Senegal Twitter account on Thursday.
Mane, who is the reigning African Footballer of the Year, also came in second for the Ballon d’Or. He score 23 goals in his final season as a Liverpool player while helping Senegal win their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title. Six weeks later he secured the World Cup qualification.
On Monday, Senegal start their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands. They will also take on hosts Qatar and Ecuador in Group A.
Read more about Sadio Mane here: Senegalese footballer Sadio Mane wins the new Socrates Award for charity work
Why Senegalese footballer Sadio Mane rejected holding beer in group photo – IMAGE
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