MANE WILL BE HUGE MISS FOR SENEGAL

Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse admits it will be difficult to replace Sadio Mane having built the whole team around him.

The Bayern Munich forward, who was instrumental in their Africa Cup of Nations win in February, was ruled out after having surgery to reattach a tendon to the head of his right fibula having originally been named in the World Cup squad.

“Obviously it is a great shame for Sadio and a shame for the national team, but we need to think about the player’s safety and health,” said Cisse, ahead of their Group A opener against the Netherlands today.

“It’s a challenge for us to be missing Sadio Mane. All coaches build their team around the best player and obviously that is the same for us.

“We hope he makes A swift recovery and gets back to playing as quickly as possible, but we have a strong team with experienced players and young players who are ready to rise to the challenge. It is difficult to replace Sadio. He is an extremely important player and we are determined to do what we can without him.”

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal tried to sign Mane from Southampton when he was Manchester United manager, but lost out to Liverpool.

He knows what a loss it will be to Senegal, although he will be without Memphis Depay as he is still not fully fit having been troubled by a hamstring injury.

“I think Mane is an extraordinary player and I wanted him as manager of Manchester United. He was at Southampton and I chased him,” said the Dutch boss.

“He can break open a match and Senegal will miss him, but the same applies to us, we are missing our top scorer and king of the assists.”