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<\/p>\nSaturday’s Premier League match involving Leeds and Manchester City was briefly paused in the 13th minute in order to allow Muslim players observing Ramadan to break their fast<\/p>\n
22:28, 28 Feb 2026Updated 22:31, 28 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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Man City boss Pep Guardiola urged fans to respect Ramadan(Image: Hayters TV)<\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola has condemned the fans who booed a stoppage in Manchester City’s<\/a> clash with Leeds<\/a> which allowed Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan<\/a>. Play was halted in the 13th minute of City’s 1-0 win at Elland Road<\/a> as the sun began setting.<\/p>\n As players made their way over to the touchline, a section of supporters jeered. A message on the big screen read: “As tonight’s match takes place during the holy period of Ramadan play has been paused briefly to allow players to break their fast.”<\/p>\n The timing of the break was agreed before Saturday’s Premier League fixture by both captains. In light of the boos, Guardiola has called on fans to ‘respect religion and diversity’.<\/p>\n “It is a modern world<\/a>, right?” Guardiola said post-match. “[You see] what is happening in the world today. Respect religion, diversity, that is the point.<\/p>\n FOLLOW OUR MAN CITY FB PAGE!<\/strong> Follow our Manchester City Mirror Football Facebook page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: Angry Leeds boss Daniel Farke sent off after Man City clash amid referee fury<\/a>READ MORE: Full list of Premier League games that will pause for Ramadan as players break fast<\/a><\/p>\n “The Premier League<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n “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?”<\/p>\n Anti-racism charity Kick it Out issued a statement on the reaction to the stoppage, emphasising that the protocal has been in place since 2021. “It is massively disappointing that some Leeds United<\/a> fans jeered when Manchester<\/a> City’s players broke their fast during the first half of the match at Elland Road,” they said.<\/p>\n BACK THE MIRROR! Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n The pre-agreed stoppage was met with boos(Image: Oli SCARFF\/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “This was compounded by the fact that an explanation was displayed on a big screen inside the stadium. Pausing the game to allow Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan has been an agreed protocol for several years now.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Muslims taking part in Ramadan abstain from eating or drinking during daylight hours. The Premier League first introduced stoppages in 2021 in order to allow players to take nutrients on board. Ramadan began last week and will end on the evening of Thursday, March 19.<\/p>\n Join our new WhatsApp community<\/a> and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football<\/strong> content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us – and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday’s Premier League match involving Leeds and Manchester City was briefly paused in the 13th minute in order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,24464,1036,1037,65374,16,15],"class_list":["post-795816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-leeds","tag-leeds-united-fc","tag-manchester-city-fc","tag-pep-guardiola","tag-ramadan","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116151076135938825","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Manchester](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_GettyImages-2263535730.jpg\")
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