The World Cup will be without one of its biggest stars with Senegal forward Sadio Mané ruled out due to injury.
The Senegalese federation announced the news on Thursday, dealing the country a massive blow just four days before its World Cup opener.
Mané, who finished second behind Karim Benzema in the running for the Ballon d’Or this year, was subbed off with a leg injury 20 minutes into Bayern Munich’s final game before the World Cup break—a 6–1 victory over Werder Bremen.
The initial hope was that the two-time African Player of the Year would be fit at some point during the group stage as he remained behind with Bayern Munich for treatment. But now the African champions will have to go on without its top player at the third World Cup in the nation’s history.
Bayern confirmed the severity of the injury by revealing that Mané underwent surgery in Austria on Thursday.
The 30-year-old winger was a critical part of a Senegal team that won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in February. Mané converted the winning penalty in two critical penalty shootouts against Egypt: one in the AFCON final and another in the World Cup qualifying playoff to book Senegal’s ticket to Qatar.
Senegal opens its World Cup campaign on Monday against the Netherlands before facing Qatar and Ecuador. No replacement has been named as of yet. Senegal has up to 24 hours before the opener to do so.
