Senegal Criticised For Allowing Concussed Mane To Play On

Mane suffered what appeared to be concussion following a collision with opposition goalkeeper Vozinha in the second half.

Nonetheless, the Liverpool forward was allowed to play on for six more minutes after Vozinha was dismissed for the incident and opened the scoring for his country before going to ground again.

Mane was substituted before the game was able to restart as he suffered effects of the collision.

Senegal went on to claim a 2-0 victory and advance to the quarterfinals but Headway, a brain injury association's deputy chief executive officer Luke Griggs, says Mane should have been taken off straight away.

"On the face of it, this seems to be yet another example of football putting results ahead of player safety," said Luke in a statement released on the association's website.

"This was a sickening collision that clearly left both players in enough distress for a concussion to have surely been considered a possibility at the very least.

"At that point, the principle of 'if in doubt, sit it out!' should have resulted in Mane being substituted without another ball being kicked.

"The image of the player collapsing on the ground and having to be helped from the pitch after scoring his goal should tell you everything you need to know about the impact and the effect it had had on his brain.

"Yet again, the desire to win is seen as being worth serious risks to players' health. It is simply shocking that this continues to happen.

"This is now a real test of leadership for The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and world governing body FIFA – particularly if Senegal declare Mane fit for Sunday's quarter-final.

"If football wants to be taken seriously when it comes to concussion, it simply must take action to enforce and strengthen its protocols."