Senegal coach Aliou Cisse hopes Sadio Mane will be fit to play at the World Cup after naming the Bayern Munich star in his squad for Qatar.
Mane’s hopes of leading his country at the inaugural winter tournament this month looked to have been scuppered earlier this week after he was taken off with a knee injury after just 20 minutes of Bayern’s 6-1 Bundesliga thrashing of Werder Bremen.
Initial reports suggested after scans that the former Liverpool forward would indeed be ruled out of the World Cup before it was then stressed that it was too early to tell.
With the official Fifa deadline for final squads looming on Monday, Senegal named their 26-man group for Qatar on Friday morning, with Mane included as the headline alongside a raft of Premier League players including Chelsea pair Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, Tottenham’s Pape Matar Sarr, Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye, Nottingham Forest’s Cheikhou Kouyate and Leicester man Nampalys Mendy.
Their travelling party also includes Watford winger Ismaila Sarr, plus QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng, Reading loanee Mamadou Loum and Sheffield United striker Iliman Ndiaye.
And Senegal coach Cisse seems confident that Mane will be able to feature for Senegal, who begin their campaign against the Netherlands in Al Thumama on November 21 before further Group A meetings with hosts Qatar (November 25) and Ecuador (November 29).
“That’s very good news and we now have the chance to try and get him fit for the tournament. We now have two weeks to observe and see how the injury reacts to treatment,” Cisse said of Mane’s inclusion.
“I prefer to keep him in the squad because he is such an important part of us. We will do all in our power to ensure we can recover Mane in time to play.”
