African Player of the Year Sadio Mane was ruled out of the World Cup through injury on Thursday while Iran’s captain urged his team to focus on football rather than anti-government protests that have rocked his country.
Mane’s omission from Senegal is a cruel blow for Senegal, who had high hopes of making a long run in the tournament in Qatar thanks to their star forward.
Mane suffered a shin injury playing for Bayern Munich earlier this month but was named in the World Cup squad in the hope he could regain fitness, but on Thursday Senegal conceded that the former Liverpool player would not make it.
“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.
Source: supersports.com
