[Cal-FCB]

Just saw this on Facebook, Muslim guy I know was getting worked up about it, think Joes's comments are fair tbh

A Muslim leader in Italy criticised Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho for comments the Portuguese made about Ramadan at the weekend.

Muslims around the world are fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which faithful followers abstain from eating or drinking during daylight hours.

One of those followers is Inter's Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari who Mourinho hauled off after just half an hour of Sunday's 1-1 home draw against Bari due to the former Portsmouth man's poor performance.

Afterwards, Mourinho suggested Muntari had played badly due to a lack of energy associated with his fast.

But Mohamed Nour Dachan, president of the Union of Islamic communities and organisations in Italy, claimed the coach has gotten it wrong.

"I think Mourinho could do with talking a little less," he told Sky. "A practising (Muslim) player is not weakened because we know from the Institute of Sports Medicine that mental and psychological stability can give a sportsman an extra edge on the field.

"A player who is a believing Christian, Jew or Muslim is certainly calmer psychologically and that improves his performance."

That is an opinion that Mourinho did not share on Sunday and he was clearly irked with his player after the match.

"Muntari had some problems related to Ramadan, perhaps with this heat it's not good for him to be doing this (fasting)," said Mourinho.

"Ramadan has not arrived at the ideal moment for a player to play a football match."

Mourinho even suggested that Muntari would be dropped for this weekend's crucial Milan derby due to his diminished condition, saying the club would try to work out a solution with its medical staff.

Saturday's derby kicks off at 8.45pm local time, but with sundown occurring at just before 8pm, it would not give Muntari much time to rehydrate and get some energy into his body.

Muntari is not the only player in Italy to be faced with this problem, although many other Muslim footballers choose not to practise Ramadan.

Siena striker Abdelkader Ghezzal, who scored in the 2-1 defeat at home to Milan at the weekend, revealed he simply cannot fast and play at the same time.

"I observe the fast during my days off, when there are no games or training," said the Algerian.

"I've always observed Ramadan but I have had to change my habits for health reasons from the first year that I became a professional.

"I was at Crotone (then in Serie C1 and now in Serie but after two weeks I felt ill and had to stop."

Udinese's Swiss midfielder Gokhan Inler, a Muslim of Turkish origin, is another who is not fasting this month, while Genoa's Moroccan midfielder Houssine Kharja does respect Ramadan.

Tellingly, both Ghezzal and Inler played 90 minutes at the weekend, Kharja never got off the bench.

[LaFuriaBlaugrana]

I understand there are a lot of devout Muslim players and I don't think the sport should force anyone to choose between their faith and career, Ramadan is a major issue interfering with a lot of the work that needs to be done. The thing is that it should be possible to work something out as from what I know the fasting requirements are pretty pragmatic and Muslim players should be able to find ways to observe Ramadan without limiting their physical ability to the point that it ruins their performances.

[yusuf423]

there is no definite ruling on this matter in islam but if interfereing with your work you can make it up on other days and from what i understand that is what some muslim players are doing. on gamedays they do not fast but they fast the rest of the week. not that big of an issue really

[Los_Merengues]

Well it's an issue if they can only play for 30 mins like Muntari

[LaFuriaBlaugrana]

Abidal used it as an excuse before, it's not that uncommon for it to create issue. Right now we have three very important players who are practising Muslims - Yaya, Abidal, and Keita, two of whom are also MIA for a month next season due to the AFC, which could create even more potential depth issues depending on their practices.

[Snyde]

I read somewhere that they all said they weren't going to observe it now and will make up later. At the least, Yaya and Keita have shown no signs of fatigue or lacking nutrition. Quite the contrary.

[Cal-FCB]

Yeh they've looked fine so far. It does seem that quite a few Muslim footballers compromise with it a bit so it doesn't affect their performance. At the end of the day footballers are normally on strict diets etc, Ramadan completely changes their normal set up so it's almost certain their conditioning will be affected if they don't compromise a little.

[chucka]

Lass, benzema and Diarra are all going to fast at RM.

[Irvin_007]

Inter are beating the crap out of Milano 0-3 at the half.

geez.

[yusuf423]

ricing is all i can say

[Impeh!]

finished 4-0 lol

[Los_Merengues]

Dinho got the bulk of the frustrastion from the Milan fans but that was brutal by Inter.

This post has been edited by Los_Merengues: 30 August 2009 - 04:45 AM

[yusuf423]

it could have been a lot worse inter lay off in the second half and they could have made it 6 or 7 if they played.

[Los_Merengues]

It's what Milan deserve, since they have never revamped their squad. You could tell this was going to happen by their U.S pre-season, they were fucking terrible.

[yusuf423]

they have got to be the worst of the soo called big teams in europe this year. they will get merked by real in the CL