Sadio Mane has suffered international heartache in the past and will be desperate to put things right when he links up with Senegal at the World Cup in Russia.

Mane scored in each of his country’s opening two games at the African Cup of Nations last year but missed a penalty in a shootout in their quarter-final exit at the hands of Cameroon.

A few big performances in Russia will see that miss all-but erased from the minds of the Senegalese people as they prepare for just their second ever World Cup, having reached the quarter-finals in 2002 thanks to the likes of El-Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao and Papa Bouba Diop.

The Liverpool forward has an impressive record at club level and has hit double figures in each of the last three seasons in the Premier League, including two years with Southampton, and appears on course to do so again as he has six in 19 outings for the Reds so far this term.

Senegal have been drawn in a tough looking Group H with Colombia, Japan and Poland in what could well be the hardest group to call on paper at least.

The African hopefuls are 3.30 to win their first match against Poland and 5.50 to win the group, with Senegal outsiders at 151.00 to win the tournament outright.

Mane has 14 goals in 47 appearances in total for Senegal, including two in seven World Cup 2018 qualifiers, and his performances in attack will be key to their hopes of progressing beyond the group stages.