Senegal's Sadio Mane has been ruled out of the World Cup after failing to recover from an injury, team officials have announced.
The former Liverpool forward was forced off after 20 minutes of Bayern Munich's 6-1 win over Werder Bremen on November 8.
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said Mane had taken a painful blow to his "tibial plateau" and would have an X-ray to determine the extent of the damage.
A further scan was recommended in Qatar and the Senegalese Football Federation has now taken the decision to rule Mane out of the World Cup.
Team doctor Manuel Afonso told a press conference: "Unfortunately, today's MRI says his recovery has not been as encouraging as we had hoped and we have decided to declare Sadio Mane's withdrawal from the World Cup."
Mane is Senegal's record scorer and scored the decisive penalty as his country beat Egypt to win the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year.
Senegal begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on November 21 and also face hosts Qatar and Ecuador in Group A.
Lionel Messi was on target as Argentina warmed up for the World Cup with a 5-0 rout of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez opened the scoring after being teed-up by Messi in the 17th minute before Angel Di Maria netted a quick-fire brace.
Messi then struck his 91st goal for his country and Joaquin Correa added a fifth on the hour mark as one of the favourites for the tournament in Qatar played their final match before the Group C opener against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Croatia, runners-up in 2018, won Wednesday night's only match featuring two Qatar-bound countries as they edged out Saudi Arabia 1-0 in Riyadh.
The cagey contest was finally settled in the 84th minute when substitute Andrej Kramaric struck the winner.
Niclas Fullkrug’s debut goal earned Germany a 1-0 victory over Oman in Muscat.
The 29-year-old Werder Bremen forward was teed-up by Chelsea’s Kai Havertz to score the only goal with 10 minutes remaining.
Borussia Dortmund forward Youssoufa Moukoko, at 17 years and 361 days old, became Germany’s youngest debutant since 1954.
England's opening opponents Iran were beaten 2-0 by Tunisia in Doha.
Naim Sliti netted a 62nd-minute penalty after a handball from Iran's Abolfazl Jalali, who was sent off, and defender Ali Abdi added a second seven minutes later.
Poland left it late to clinch a 1-0 victory over Chile in Warsaw.
It was a closely-fought battle, but neither side could find a breakthrough until Krzysztof Piatek fired home following a corner with five minutes left.
Elsewhere, Qatar-bound Mexico were beaten 2-1 by Sweden in Spain.
Training injury scares for Brazil
Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes and Manchester United defender Alex Telles suffered injury scares in the first full training session completed by five-time World Cup winners Brazil in Turin on Wednesday.
The 25-year old Guimaraes, who was celebrating his birthday, left the pitch for several minutes to receive medical attention after forward Rodrygo stepped on his right foot.
He returned to the session limping and looking uncomfortable, but completed it with his team mates.
Telles received a rough tackle from behind by Neymar and also needed medical assistance. Brazil coach Tite ordered the practice match to stop for a few moments, before Telles returned to the action.
Brazil's technical staff stressed that they wanted to assess the physical condition of the players when they reported for international duty on Monday.
After two days of light training at the Juventus facilities, where Brazil are holding a five-day camp before flying to Qatar on Saturday, Tite ran his first full practice with all the 26 players in the World Cup squad taking part.
Defender Marquinhos, who missed training on Tuesday with an undisclosed injury that also ruled him out of Paris St Germain's 5-0 win over Auxerre on Sunday, joined his team mates for the second half of the session.
Brazil decided not to play a friendly as part of their preparations for the tournament starting next week and they have more practice sessions on Thursday and Friday before heading to Doha.
Brazil begin their World Cup Group G campaign against Serbia on 24 November before facing Switzerland and Cameroon.
Wales feeling the heat
Wales have had to reschedule their World Cup training plans because of the excessive Doha heat.
Robert Page's squad had been due to start daily training sessions at 1.30pm local time in Qatar ahead of their tournament opener with the United States on Monday.
But, even though it is mid-November, early-afternoon temperatures have been above average at over 30 degrees Celsius.
Wales will now train at 4pm local time on Thursday, and it is likely that all future training sessions will now be held later in the day.
The 2022 World Cup was switched to the winter for the first time because of the sheer impracticality of playing football during Qatar’s summer months with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius.
All eight stadiums hosting World Cup games will be air-conditioned, but Page questioned whether players would feel the benefit of that after visiting the Gulf state in July.
Page, whose side’s second group game with Iran kicks off at 1pm local time, said: "They’ve done their best to accommodate that (the heat).
"I went to the stadium where we play our three games and it is exceptional.
"They’ve put air conditioning units all around the pitch, I could feel it from where I was stood.
"I’m not so sure the players will feel it from the middle of the pitch, and certainly our supporters won’t from the top of the stand."
We made a difference in Qatar - Danish FA
Danish football's protest against Qatar's human rights record has delivered results, with conditions for migrant workers improving because of the international focus, Danish Football Association chief Jakob Jensen claimed today.
Denmark has been vocal in highlighting alleged abuse of workers' rights in Qatar ahead of their participation the World Cup, previously protesting with messages on their training kit and now fading out the team badge on their kit for the tournament.
The Danish players are also travelling without their families to the tournament in Qatar, which gets under way on Sunday.
"I think we've been able to make an impact on Qatar. It's been done by very many actors, not just the associations, but also organisations and international governments," Jensen, the chief executive of the football association, said.
"I think one has to be honest that there's been quite many improvements within Qatar legislation, and Amnesty International also reported that thousands of migrant workers actually have improved their conditions."
"But I think it's also fair to say we're still pushing for more."
Labour rights campaigners say Qatar has failed workers by falling short on reform commitments it made in order to become the first Arab country to host the tournament.
Qatar has rejected demands for a $440 million fund to compensate workers for labour rights abuses, including injuries and deaths, pointing to its own raft of reforms, such as higher minimum wages and an end to exit permits.
The International Labour Organisation has said reforms enacted in Qatar have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers and are "significant for the region".
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Follow every game from the 2022 FIFA World Cup via live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, or watch live on RTÉ Television and RTÉ Player, starting with Qatar v Ecuador on Sunday from 2.30pm
