The 30-year-old Mane will miss the competition in the Gulf nation after he was ruled out following an injury sustained while turning out for Bayern Munich in a Bundesliga fixture against Werder Bremen.
Though he had initially been included in the final squad by coach Aliou Cisse, Senegal FA confirmed he will not be available. His absence will be missed by the Lions of Teranga but according to Diouf, they are ready to work without him and get positive results.
“We are all sad, because we would love to see Sadio playing this World Cup and Sadio was doing everything to get ready for this World Cup,” Diouf said as quoted by BBC Sports Africa.
“All big players want to shine in the World Cup but things can happen. We are going to work without him and we’re going to do everything to make him proud.
“I think Sadio’s going to be stronger when he comes back.”
The 41-year-old Diouf, who is representing Senegal as team ambassador in Qatar, revealed Senegal’s target is to get past the group stage.
“Our first objective is to pass the first round and after the first round we’re going to talk again together to see what we can do.
“I know some teams don’t want to play Senegal because we have a good team [with] experienced players.”
