Pep Guardiola hits out at rival fans who booed Muslim players during Ramadan break

Manchester City kept the pressure up on Arsenal with a hard-fought win away at Leeds United on Saturday. A single goal from Antoine Semenyo was enough for City to claim the three points but it wasn’t the only talking point from the game.

Midway through the first half, the referee blew for a short pre-arranged break to allow Muslim players who are observing Ramadan to break their fasts. This practice has been in place since 2021 and is now a fairly common part of this stage of the season.

Fans were made aware of the situation with a message on the stadium’s big screen. But when Manchester City’s Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush stopped to take on fluids a significant proportion of the home crowd booed loudly. Guardiola was asked about the incident in the postgame press conference and he responded directly.

Guardiola said: “It is a modern world, right? [You see] what is happening in the world today. Respect religion, diversity, that is the point. The Premier League says you can have one or two minutes, you can have for the [fasting] players to do it [break their fast]. It is what it is, unfortunately.”

“Of course they [the players] know it. We took on a little bit of vitamins because [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait-Nouri did not eat today. No more than that. The question is, can they do it or not? What is the problem?”

The break in the game was less than a minute, around the same amount of time as it taken up while teams are setting up for a corner or a goal kick. In a statement released after the game, anti-discrimination group Kick It Out expressed concern at the response from Leeds fans.

“Pausing the game to allow Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan has been an agreed protocol for several years now. It’s an important and visible part of making the game welcoming for Muslim players and communities. But as tonight’s reaction shows, football still has a long way to go in terms of education and acceptance.”

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