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After suffering a shin injury during Bayern Munich's 6-1 win over Werder Bremen on November 8, Senegal named their star striker Sadio Mane in the FIFA World Cup 2022 squad. However, the African country's football federation has confirmed on Thursday that the 30-year-old will miss the World Cup in Qatar.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Sadio Mane will miss the first World Cup game for Aliou Cisse's Senegal against Netherlands on Monday after sustaining an injury to his right fibula.
Senegal football federation announced, "Unfortunately, today's (Thursday) MRI shows us that the improvement is not as favorable as we imagined and unfortunately we have to withdraw Sadio from the World Cup."
Sadio Mane stood second in the Ballon d'Or 2022 rankings, just behind the winner, Karim Benzema. The Senegalese joined Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich from Premier League giants Liverpool in the summer this year, replacing Robert Lewandowski.
Earlier this year, Sadio Mane also helped his team to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time after beating former teammate Mohammad Salah's Egypt in the final on penalties.
Apart from Sadio Mane, other big names to miss the FIFA World Cup 2022 due to injury include Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Christopher Nkunku from France while Reece James, Ben Chilwell from England among others.