Sadio Mane, a forward for Senegal, will miss the World Cup after undergoing surgery for a knee injury he sustained while playing for Bayern Munich.
Senegal’s football association announced on Tuesday that Mane, 30, would miss their “first games” in the competition.
However, a further MRI scan performed on Thursday revealed the need for surgical intervention.
On November 8, Mane was taken off during Bayern’s victory over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.
The athlete “underwent successful surgery” on Thursday to attach a tendon to the head of his right fibula, according to Bayern.
“The forward will begin his rehab in Munich in the next few days,” the club added.
On Monday, Senegal’s World Cup campaign gets underway against the Netherlands. The West African team is in Group A and will play hosts Qatar on November 25 and Ecuador on November 29.
Senegal’s talisman is Mane, a two-time African Footballer of the Year, who netted the deciding penalty in February when the Teranga Lions won the Africa Cup of Nations after outlasting Egypt in a shootout.
Within two months, Mane had accomplished the trick once more, scoring the winning penalty kick as Senegal defeated Egypt on penalties in a play-off to advance to Qatar. The match put him once more against his former Liverpool teammate Mohamed
