​At the World Cup, the best national teams and players in the world will fight for the most coveted football trophy. But this year, some of the most talented football players will be absent from the most popular sporting event.

Erling Haaland

The Norwegian has caused a sensation in the Premier League since his €60 million move from Borussia Dortmund, scoring 18 goals in 13 league games, including two hat-tricks in a row.

But Norway didn’t qualify for the World Cup, so we’ll have to wait at least another four years to see him in action on the World Cup stage.

Mo Salah

He is obviously one of the best strikers in the world, but Egypt will not be at the World Cup either. It was four years ago in Russia, but the Pharaohs lost three group matches and scored just two goals, both through… Salah.

Egypt lost to Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final earlier this year, with Mane, then Salah’s partner at Liverpool, converting the decisive penalty.

History repeated itself in the play-offs of the World Cup, where Salah missed a penalty shoot-out and the same Mane scored from the decisive penalty. Unfortunately, Mane will also miss Qatar due to injury.

As he is 30 years old, there is not much chance to see Mo in the next final tournament.

Federico Chiesa

He was the star of Euro 2020 and played a big role in Italy’s final victory over England. In the semi-final against Spain (2-1), he was recognized as the best player of the match. But since then he has been haunted by injuries, knee ligaments did not allow him to go out for 10 months.

The Juventus winger has only played two games this season, making it difficult to make the squad should Italy qualify for the World Cup. The European champions unexpectedly missed out on qualification, but Chiesa’s talent is unquestionable and he will be missed in Qatar.

David De Gea

While the above players and teams did not qualify, De Gea and Spain did, but the Manchester United goalkeeper is surprisingly absent from the squad. De Gea played 45 times for Spain and was considered the rightful successor to the legendary Iker Casillas.

Luis Enrique’s decision to leave him out of the squad has sparked debate in the footballing world, with even De Gea admitting he was embarrassed.

Upday writes that the Spanish federation sent him congratulations on the end of his career with the national team, but the player did not make any statements about it.

David Alaba

It was somewhat surprising that Austria did not qualify as they have performed well in recent years. They mostly came down to captain David Alaba, the former Bayern and now Real Madrid star, who has played more than 100 times for the national team since making his debut in 2009.

At club level, Alaba won the Champions League three times, the German championship 10 times and also triumphed in La Liga in his first season in Madrid. However, he could not reproduce the success in the series and at the representative level, missing his now and (perhaps) last opportunity to play at the World Cup.

Last hour: Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema, this year’s Ballon d’Or winner, will be sidelined for three weeks on Sunday. He suffered an injury in training, so the Roosters, who are considered favourites, will also be without their main focus, in addition to other top players such as Pogba and Kante.

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