Chelsea and Senegal centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly has revealed Senegal’s togetherness despite missing the injured Sadio Mane and Cheikhou Kouyate at the 2022 World Cup finals.

“We are a group, we are a team, we are brothers and that is the difference because we miss one good player, one legend for us, Sadio [Mane] and we also miss Cheikhou [Kouyate], who got injured after the first game, so we knew as a team we can make something and as a team we can go far,” Koulibaly told beinSPORTS when asked about the absence of the Mane.

“So we keep on believing and this win is for Sadio [Mane] and for Papa Bouba Diop, which was the second anniversary of his death, so we wanted to make something special and we are all happy.”

Koulibaly was elated to score his first goal for Senegal.

“My first goal for the national team and it is amazing to score during the World Cup, and I think it is a dream for every child and today [Tuesday] I am really happy that I scored my first goal during this game and I hope we will go far.”

Senegal became the first African team to reach the knockout stage of the tournament in Qatar. Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia are the other nations representing Africa.