By Victor Kanayo
It has now been confirmed that Senegalese star Sadio Mane can’t play in the 2022 World Cup after his inability to recover in time from the injury he sustained while playing for Bayern Munich about a week ago.
The Bayern Munich forward had initially been expected to miss the tournament but he was included in Senegal’s final World Cup squad.
However, Senegal have now admitted defeat in their attempts to get Mane back fit and have formally ruled him out of the tournament.
The team doctor Manuel Afonso said, “Unfortunately, today’s MRI scan shows us that the evolution of the injury is not as positive as we had hoped and we unfortunately have to declare Sadio’s withdrawal from the World Cup.”
Senegal had previously admitted that they were prepared to do whatever they could to get Mane back in time, with high-ranking officials even confessing they planned to use a witch doctor to help the Bayern forward recover, but their efforts have been futile.
Mane was diagnosed with what Bayern described as an injury to the head of his right fibula following his side’s 6-1 victory over Werder Bremen on November 8, but the German side were initially confident that Mane’s issue was little more than a knock.
Mane is one of Senegal’s most important players and has plundered 34 goals in 94 caps for his country – including four in the AFCON tournament as he came on on top against his former Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah and Egypt in a tense final shootout.
He is the latest high-profile name to be ruled out of the tournament, which is the first ever winter World Cup.
Various other stars such as Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Mane’s ex-Liverpool team-mate Diogo Jota have also been ruled out of the showpiece event due to injury.
