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DAKAR. — Sadio Mane has been included in Senegal’s squad for the football World Cup in Qatar despite suffering an injury scare on Tuesday.
In Bayern Munich’s penultimate game before the World Cup, Mane was substituted after just 21 minutes when he appeared to hurt his leg during his side’s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen at the Allianz Arena.
The German champions said he had an injury “to the head of his right fibula” and will miss today’s game against Schalke.
Senegal begin their World Cup campaign on November 21 against the Netherlands, and Mane will be crucial in their hopes of emerging from a group that also includes host nation Qatar and Ecuador.
A kind draw on paper means expectations are high, in what is arguably one of the most open groups at the tournament.
The West African country announced their official 26-man list yesterday morning for the Qatar tournament which begins later this month.
And Bayern Munich star Mane (30) his country’s best player, is among the players travelling to the Middle East – the day after FIFA’s Senegalese secretary-general Fatma Samoura said the country would use witch doctors to help him get to the competition.
Samoura, the No. 2 at world football’s governing body, has said the country will go to extreme methods to ensure Mane is present at the Qatar World Cup, admitting they are not even sure if the unorthodox technique will work but that they are hoping for ”miracles”.
”We are going to use witch doctors,” she told Europe 1. ”I don’t know (if they’re effective) but in this instance, we’re going to use them anyway. We are hoping for miracles. He has to be there!”
“We are monitoring the situation and have sent one of our doctors to assess him,” Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said at a press conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar yesterday.
“On Thursday, Sadio spent the whole day in Munich before travelling to Austria for further tests. The good news is that he does not need an operation.
“We want the situation to evolve in two-three weeks. I don’t want to rule him out.”
Mane limped off after 20 minutes during a 6-1 Bundesliga win against Werder Bremen on Tuesday, with Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann confirming the 30-year-old would have an X-ray to assess the damage.
It was then reported by French outlet L’Equipe that the injury was serious enough to keep the player out of the tournament in a huge blow to the African Cup of Nations champions.
But it seems Senegal are happy to give up a slot in their squad in the hope Mane, who finished second in this year’s Ballon d’Or voting behind Karim Benzema, can recover in time to feature in some part of the World Cup.
The Senegal team doctor, Manuel Afonso, has flown to Munich to assess the extent of Mane’s injury.
Mane, the two-time African player of the year, is pivotal to the African champions’ hopes of progressing to the knockout stages.
Senegal President Macky Sall on Wednesday tweeted: ”Sadio, I wish you a speedy recovery. Sadio, heart of a Lion! All my heart is with you!”
Augustin Senghor, president of the Senegalese football federation, said: ”We cross our fingers, we have been worried since we received the news.”
If Mane did miss out on the World Cup, his absence would be felt massively in the Senegal camp. The ex-Liverpool man has picked up 93 caps for his country and scored 34 times.
Former Liverpool player Mane is Senegal’s star player and talisman, having scored the winning penalty when the Teranga Lions became continental champions for the first time in February, defeating Egypt in a shoot-out in the African Cup of Nations final.
Less than two months later, Mane repeated the feat, netting the decisive spot-kick as Senegal beat Egypt – in a clash that again pitted him against then Liverpool team-mate Mohammed Salah – on penalties in a crunch play-off to qualify for Qatar.
As his country’s record goalscorer, with 34 goals in 93 caps, Mane’s fitness is key to Senegal’s chances and Cisse will be sweating on his availability ahead of their opener against the Dutch, with matches against hosts Qatar (November 25) and Ecuador (November 29) to follow.
Senegal’s best performance at a World Cup finals came on their debut in 2002, when a squad containing Cisse stunned defending champions France in their opening game and went on to reach the quarter-finals.
The west Africans are 18th in the FIFA world rankings, and have been Africa’s highest-ranked side since November 2018.
Chelsea centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly will captain a squad which includes Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye, Nottingham Forest midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and Leicester City’s Nampalys Mendy.
Cisse will also have concerns over the fitness of Koulibaly’s regular centre-back partner Abdou Diallo, who suffered a knee injury in the warm-up for RB Leipzig on Wednesday and was withdrawn from the starting XI to face Freiburg, Both full-backs from the Nations Cup final triumph against Egypt are absent, with right-back Bouna Sarr injured and Saliou Ciss omitted having been without a club since the end of last season.
Tottenham midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, Queens Park Rangers keeper Seny Dieng, Watford forward Ismaila Sarr and Sheffield United striker Iliman Ndiaye have also been named in the squad by Cisse.
Ndiaye is among six new faces from the squad which won the Nations Cup title in Cameroon, with Youssouf Sabaly, Ismael Jakobs, Krepin Diatta, Pathe Ciss and Jackson Nicolas also making it in.
The squad announcement comes a day after former Birmingham City and Portsmouth midfielder Cisse signed a new deal to remain as Senegal boss until 2024.
Senegal World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Seny Dieng (Queens Park Rangers), Alfred Gomis (Rennes), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea).
Defenders: Fode Ballo-Toure (AC Milan), Pape Abdou Cisse (Olympiakos), Abdou Diallo (RB Leipzig), Ismail Jakobs (Monaco), Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea), Formose Mendy (Amiens), Youssouf Sabaly (Real Betis).
Midfielders: Pathe Ciss (Rayo Vallecano), Krepin Diatta (Monaco), Idrissa Gana Gueye (Everton), Pape Gueye (Marseille), Cheikhou Kouyate (Nottingham Forest), Mamadou Loum Ndiaye (Reading), Nampalys Mendy (Leicester City), Moustapha Name (Pafos), Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Boulaye Dia (Salernitana), Famara Diedhiou (Alanyaspor), Bamba Dieng (Marseille), Nicolas Jackson (Villarreal), Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich), Iliman Ndiaye (Sheffield United), Ismaila Sarr (Watford). — BBC Sport Africa.
Online Reporter