Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about the reaction to some of his Muslim players being booed at Leeds
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called for more respect after loud boos greeted a pause in play to allow Muslim players to break their fast for Ramadan. Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush headed to the touchline during a first-half stoppage when the sun went down and the Leeds crowd booed despite the reason for the stoppage being put up on a big screen in the stadium.
Cherki and Ait-Nouri combined to set up Antoine Semenyo for the only goal of the game later in the first half so City would end the night celebrating, but the reaction of the crowd still sent out the worst possible message at a moment when inclusion should have been welcomed. Guardiola saw the incident within the bigger picture of modern society but that did not make him any less disappointed.
“It is a modern world, right? [You see] what is happening in the world today,” he said. “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.
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“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?'”
Daniel Farke was unable to conduct any post-match interviews after being sent off at the final whistle for complaining to the referee about the lack of time added onto the six minutes of injury time as City wore the clock down. His assistant Edmund Riemer stepped up to do media duties and was asked about the incident.
“I’m probably the guy who doesn’t hear a lot because I’m really focused on the game,” he said. “But I’ve heard about it. Obviously some of the supporters did it, so we try to learn out of it, it’s disappointing. We need to do better next time.”
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