The Lions of Teranga, the National team of Senagal has suffered a huge setback in their 2022 world cup campaign as one of their star players; Sadio Mane won’t be going to Qatar with them.
The African Player of the Year and Bayern Munich forward has been ruled out of the World Cup on Thursday following the injury he sustained playing for his club in Germany.
The 30-year-old picked up an injury to his right fibula in Bayern’s 6-1 Bundesliga win over Werder Bremen last Tuesday, but was included in the Senegalese World Cup team in expectation that he would recover before the world cup. Senegal authorities were on Thursday convinced that Mane would not be fit to play for the country in the world cup.
“Unfortunately, today’s MRI shows us that the improvement is not as favourable as we imagined and unfortunately, we have to withdraw Sadio from the World Cup,” team doctor Manuel Afonso said in a video on the official Senegal team Twitter account.
After Senegal confirmed Mane would be unable to feature in the World Cup, Bayern revealed he had undergone “successful” surgery in Austria on Thursday evening.
A statement from the German champions said: “Sadio Mane underwent successful surgery in Innsbruck by Prof Christian Fink and Dr Andy Williams from London on Thursday evening.
“During the operation, a tendon was reattached to the head of his right fibula. The Bayern forward will therefore no longer be available to play for Senegal at the World Cup and will begin his rehab in Munich in the next few days.”
