Brendan Rodgers Substituted Wesley Fofana After An Hour Because He Was Fasting For Ramadan

 

Image Credit-Sportbible


Brendan Rodgers announced that defender Wesley Fofana was taken off after an hour in Leicester City’s 3-0 victory over West Brom because he is fasting for Ramadan.


The 20-year-old is a practising Muslim who is reportedly taking part in an Islamic festival that started just over a week ago.
Muslims will not eat or drink between daylight hours as part of one of Islam’s five foundations of loyalty to their faith and Allah.
Given the pressures of their employment, it can be a daunting position to handle for elite athletes.

Fofana hadn’t eaten or drunk since sunrise the night before, so Rodgers decided to shield his centre-back by substituting Marc Albrighton for him 60 minutes into the 8pm kick-off, enabling the former Saint-Etienne man to crack his early.

Rodgers confirmed Wesley Fofana was brought off after an hour because he’s currently fasting for Ramadan – and he wanted to protect his young defender who hadn’t eaten or drank since sunrise pic.twitter.com/kXI1BLJsmI

— BBC Leicester Sport (@BBCRLSport) April 22, 2021

Rodgers has been praised for showing excellent man management skills but the Foxes boss has hailed Fofana for the level he has trained and played at during the period of Ramadan.

As per Leicester MercuryRodgers said: “He’s fine. He’s a young player in the middle of Ramadan, so he’s not eating during the day.

“It’s remarkable. If you think of his performance at the weekend in an FA Cup semi-final, where he hasn’t eaten all day and then he had first taste of food with 15 minutes to go, and then the same today, with an 8pm kick-off, he’s not eaten all day or drank and he can still perform to that level.

“It was just one where I thought if I could get him off then he could get some food into him on the bench, and just protect him a little bit.

“I’ve worked with lots of players with devotion to their faiths and for a lot of the guys it gives them strength.

He’s finding an incredible strength to play continuously and train during Ramadan. He’s a special talent and a big player for us.”

Image: PA

Fofana has been one of the season’s standout signings, putting in a string of dominant displays at the heart of Leicester’s defence.

He, Jonny Evans, and Caglar Soyuncu held their third clean sheet in four games as a trio last night as Leicester cruised past West Brom.

In the first 36 minutes at the King Power Stadium, strike partners Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho were on target either side of an Evans opener.

Leicester climbed into third place in the league, four points ahead of Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion.

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