Baxter unfazed by Mane’s selection
The inclusion of Liverpool’s Sadio Mane in Senegal squad to face Bafana Bafana in back-to-back Fifa 2018 World Cup qualifiers despite the striker currently nursing a hamstring injury doesn’t worry Bafana coach Stuart Baxter.
Mane got injured during Senegal’s game against Cape Verde early in October and is expected to be out for six weeks.
With many believing that Mane’s selection is just a mind game by the Senegalese team to make Bafana worry about the Liverpool forward, Baxter says he will not be focusing his energy on the striker.
“Liverpool will not let him be called up if he was injured. If he is called up and he plays then he plays. Why should we be focussing our energy on whether Mane plays or not? I think if Liverpool deems him fit they will release him. They (Senegal) feel this is such a big game they want everybody.
“If he is there, he is there. He’s got hands, two arms and two legs just like everybody else.”
The first leg of the two games will be played on November 10 in Polokwane, with the second leg set to be played in Dakar on November 14.
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