Senegal's opening World Cup 2022 group games will be played without Sadio Mane.

Abdoulaye Sow, a board member for the Senegal Federation, disclosed this.

“We will have to rely on playing the first games without Sadio and winning without him because we have 25 players apart from him,” Sow said.

“No one would have wanted it, but that’s what happened to us.”

Mane was injured before the tournament while playing for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

The ex-Liverpool attacker led his nation to an Africa Cup of Nations triumph at the start of 2022.

Senegal will face the Netherlands, Qatar, and Ecuador in Group A.