Sadio Mane: Bayern Munich suspend its Senegalese star for punching team-mate

Bayern striker Sadio Mané will be absent from the Munich squad for the Bundesliga match against Hoffenheim on Saturday (3:30 p.m.), due to a heated argument with Leroy Sané on Tuesday after the match at Manchester City, the Bavarian club announced Thursday in a statement.

The 31-year-old Senegalese is suspended by Bayern and fined after a "misbehavior after the Champions League match of FC Bayern in Manchester City," said the club.

Mané will therefore be at the disposal of his coach Thomas Tuchel for the second leg of the C1 quarterfinal against Manchester City on Wednesday (21:00) at the Allianz Arena.

After the defeat in Manchester against City (3-0) in the quarterfinal first leg, the tone rose in the dressing room of the Etihad Stadium between Sané and Mané, the best African player of the year 2022 reproaching the German international the way of addressing him on an action at the end of the game, according to the German press.

Mané, who entered the game in the 69th minute, then struck Sané in the face, which resulted in a bloody lower lip.

Both players attended Bayern's training session at Säbener Strasse on Thursday morning, with Thomas Tuchel taking Sadio Mané aside for a few seconds. Before the training session, Mané had been summoned by Bayern's sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and chairman of the board Oliver Kahn to explain his gesture.

- Return of "FC Hollywood" in 2023 -

This incident between Mané and Sané is one more episode in the "FC Hollywood", Bayern's nickname for the whims of its stars, in a rather prolific 2022/23 season.

First there was Serge Gnabry's unappreciated escapade at Fashion Week in Paris at the end of January, then in early February the spectacular media outburst by injured goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer against his managers, whom he blamed for the dismissal of goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic, who was close to Neuer.

And there was the surprise dismissal of coach Julian Nagelsmann, who was replaced by Thomas Tuchel a few days before a decisive April for the season.

A week before his dismissal, Nagelsmann had regretted the presence of a "mole" in his dressing room after the publication of game plans in the press.

The episode between Mané and Sané is also reminiscent of other incidents of the same nature in the Bavarian dressing room, Lothar Matthäus and Bixente Lizarazu exchanging slaps in 1999 in front of the cameras, while after the first leg of the 2012 Champions League semifinal against Real, Franck Ribery was fined after an altercation with Arjen Robben at half-time.

Mané arrived in the summer of 2022 in Bavaria from Liverpool, for a transfer estimated at 32 million euros. He was injured from the beginning of November to the end of February, hitting his right fibula, which forced him to withdraw from the World Cup 2022 with Senegal.