Sadio Mané misses the World Cup in Qatar. © APA / afp / KENZO TRIBOUILLARD
Africa Cup winner Senegal will have to do without his superstar and Bayern striker Sadio Mané at the World Cup in Qatar.
17. November 2022
From: apa/dpa/fop
Mané is out of the tournament with a right fibula injury, the Senegalese FA announced on Thursday. According to FC Bayern, the 30-year-old was already operated on Thursday evening in Innsbruck. During the procedure, a tendon was reattached to the right fibula head.
Mane is scheduled to start his rehabilitation in Munich in the coming days. It is not known how long the ex-Salzburg player will be out. Earlier, Senegal’s team doctor Manuel Afonso said an MRI scan had revealed that Africa’s footballer of the year was not recovering from the injury as quickly as had been hoped. “So we decided to declare Sadio’s withdrawal from the World Cup,” said Afonso.
For Senegal, the loss is a major setback in the battle for promotion to Group A. Mane, who finished second in this year’s Ballon d’Or award behind Karim Benzema, was involved on 8 November Bayern injured against Werder Bremen (6:1). Until the very end, the national team had hoped that their figurehead would play in Qatar. Senegal meet the Netherlands on Monday before taking on hosts Qatar and Ecuador.
Losses also in Argentina
Meanwhile, Argentina also has two absentees, albeit not as prominent. Team boss Lionel Scaloni has to do without Nicolas Gonzalez and Joaquin Correa. This was announced by the Argentine association on Thursday. Gonzalez suffered a muscle injury in training and Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa has already been called up to replace him. Joaquin Correa will also miss the finals through injury, with his replacement to be announced shortly.
The Argentines will play their opening match at the World Cup against Saudi Arabia next Tuesday. The other group opponents of the 2021 Copa America winners are Mexico and Poland.
