Senegal and the Confederation of African Football have come under fire for allowing a seemingly concussed Sadio Mane back onto the field in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mane went down following a heavy collision with Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha at the start of the second half of Tuesday's last-16 match in Bafoussam, with the stopper joining his teammate Patrick Andrade in being dismissed and leaving Cape Verde with nine men.
Liverpool star Mane was attended to on the pitch and deemed to be okay to continue, and he scored a fine goal to put his side 1-0 up five minutes after coming back on.
However, clearly in distress, he dropped to the ground shortly after his goal and had to be attended to by medics as he was taken off the pitch.
Mane and Vozinha were both admitted to hospital, with Mane sharing a picture of the pair on Instagram after Senegal's 2-0 win and stating that both were fine.
Despite that, the fact that the forward was allowed to play on when clearly struggling has been met with outrage.
The Premier League have introduced concussion substitutes at the start of last season, with teams allowed a free change when a player is deemed to be concussed.
Brentford were forced to use two in their match at home to Wolves last Saturday after a sickening clash of heads between Rico Henry and Mathias Jensen, and Luke Griggs, deputy chief executive of brain injury association Headway, says Mane should have been shown more care.
“On the face of it, this seems to be yet another example of football putting results ahead of player safety," he told the Press Association.
“This was a sickening collision that clearly left both players in enough distress for a concussion to have surely been considered a possibility at the very least.
“At that point, the principle of ‘if in doubt, sit it out’ should have resulted in Mane being substituted without another ball being kicked.
“The image of the player collapsing on the ground and having to be helped from the pitch after scoring his goal should tell you everything you need to know about the impact and the effect it had had on his brain.
“Yet again, the desire to win is seen as being worth serious risks to players’ health.
"It is simply shocking that this continues to happen."
“This is now a real test of leadership for the Confederation of African Football and world governing body FIFA – particularly if Senegal declare Mane fit for Sunday’s quarter-final.
“If football wants to be taken seriously when it comes to concussion, it simply must take action to enforce and strengthen its protocols.”
Despite Griggs' concerns, the former Liverpool and Senegal midfielder Salif Diao says he expects Mane to play in the last eight tie after speaking to him on Tuesday night.
“I spoke to him yesterday just after he left the hospital and he said everything was clear,” Diao told Sky Sports News.
“From what I understood he has been cleared by the doctors and should be okay for the next game.”
