Leicester City defender Wesley Fofana has thanked Crystal Palace and the Premier League for allowing him to break his Ramadan fast during their match at the King Power Stadium on Monday night.
Referee Graham Scott stopped play in the 35th minute while Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita had possession to let Fofana take on an energy drink.
Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan as a way of celebrating and reflecting on their faith.
“Just wanted to thank the @premierleague as well as @CPFC, @vguaita13 [and] all the Foxes for allowing me to break my fast tonight in the middle of the game,” Fofana wrote on Twitter. “That’s what makes football wonderful.”
Just wanted to thank the @premierleague as well as @CPFC , @vguaita13 all the Foxes for allowing me to break my fast tonight in the middle of the game. That's what makes football wonderful ????????
— LAWESTT (@Wesley_Fofanaa) April 26, 2021????#WF3 #PourEux pic.twitter.com/d56o8A8ZGo
Fofana, whose fast started on Monday 12 April, was also substituted during Leicester’s 3-0 win over West Brom with manager Brendan Rodgers admitting he did so to give the 20-year-old a chance to take some food on board.
“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,” Rodgers said afterwards.
“I’ve worked with lots of players with devotion to their faiths and for a lot of the guys it gives them strength.”
He added: “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 his first taste of food with 15 minutes to go, and then the same today [against West Brom], with an 8pm kick-off, he’s not eaten all day or drank and he can still perform to that level.”
Ramadan fasting rules
By Alex Finnis
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam – the fundamental rules Muslims follow. The other four are the Shahadah (declaration of faith), Salat (prayer), Zakat (charity) and the Hajj pilgrimage.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during fast during daylight hours as a means of celebrating and reflecting on their faith.
The most commonly accepted rule is that you must not eat or drink anything during hours of daylight, and must also abstain from sexual activity. Even water should not be drunk.
During Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam by refraining from things like violence, anger, envy, greed and lust, and trying harder to get along with everybody.
Many Muslims will wake up before sunrise each day and eat a large meal, called the Sahoor. They then engage in the day’s first session of prayer, known as the Fajr.
The fast is broken with the Iftar meal after sunset, which precedes the Maghrib, the fourth prayer of the day.
Iheanacho on fire as Foxes blaze a trail towards Champions League
Match report: Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace. By Tim Nash at King Power Stadium
Once in his shadow, Kelechi Iheanacho is now showing strike partner Jamie Vardy the way to goal as Leicester City overcame a physical encounter with Crystal Palace to strengthen their grip on a Champions League place.
Iheanacho plundered the winner with his 12th goal in his last nine games and his 17th of the season in total. He has truly emerged from Vardy’s slipstream.
For all the deserved plaudits for his stunning winner, Iheanacho showed a quality that is sometimes alien to goalscorers – an unselfish streak.
Four times he set up Vardy and three times the 34-year-old missed the chance, while he was ruled offside on the other occasion.
Victory put Brendan Rodgers’ side seven points clear of fifth-placed West Ham United with five games left.
Leicester were looking to continue their impressive streak that had brought them five wins from their previous seven games and carried them to the FA Cup final, scoring 16 goals in the process.
They started as if they were going to continue their recent form, threatening three times in the opening minutes – each time through Vardy.
First, Iheanacho put him through to round Vicente Guaita, but the Palace goalkeeper pushed the ball on to Vardy’s foot and the ball rolled harmlessly behind.
Then the former England striker was sent galloping through by Timothy Castagne, but although centre back Cheikhou Kouyaté nipped in to clear behind as Vardy shaped to shoot, the referee blew for a foul.
Vardy then belted the ball over the bar from 12 yards on the turn after Iheanacho had failed to connect with an overhead kick from Castagne’s cross.
Palace’s reply was ruthless as they broke on the counter in the 12th minute to score with their first attack.
Christian Benteke – the Belgium striker who was once a signing for Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool – outmuscled Youri Tielemans on halfway, and Eberechi Eze slotted Wilfried Zaha through the middle to sidefoot coolly past Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel from 15 yards for his 10th goal of the season.
The goal rocked Leicester and Palace began to assert themselves in more ways than one with plenty of tackles won and physicality shown.
That was shown in the last incident of the first half when Joel Ward buffeted Iheanacho right on the edge of the box – VAR checked for a penalty but Leicester were denied one.
If VAR was no friend to Leicester in the first half, it was smiling on them in the second as they forced a 50th-minute equaliser.
The video assistant checked for a handball when Iheanacho controlled Tielemans’s pass as he outmuscled the off-balance Kouyaté before teeing up Castagne to rifle into the roof of the net.
To disallow the goal would have been folly because replays suggested it was inconclusive whether there was any use of the hand.
Leicester forced their own luck in the next attack with a brilliant piece of defending by Jonny Evans.
The Northern Ireland international got across to slide the ball away before Benteke could make contact after the striker was left with a simple tap in for an open goal. Jairo Riedewald had been left one on one with Kasper Schmeichel after Zaha split the defence and the midfielder squared.
Vardy had a fourth chance to get on the scoresheet when he cut in from the left and slalomed between two defenders, only for Guaita to smother his low shot at the near post.
He finally found the net only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after Guaita blocked from Iheanacho. Vardy was unlucky again when he fired across goal after Iheanacho had put him in.
But then the latter took centre stage with a superb finish, taking a long pass from Evans before running at Scott Dann and lashing a fierce shot into the roof of the net.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3vnIYip
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