Leeds United condemns the booing in the Manchester City match and demands “respect” for the Ramadan break in the FA Cup against Norwich

Leeds United The team’s fans have been urged to show respect when players break their fast during Ramadan during their FA Cup fifth round match against Norwich City on Sunday.

Loud boos were heard when play was temporarily stopped to allow fasting players to take fluids and energy supplements during last weekend’s match against Manchester City at Elland Road.

The club said the booing was “disappointing and unexpected”, but added there were “many mitigating circumstances”, including their failure to properly explain the interruption to fans before it happened.

“To be clear, Leeds United expressly condemns any fans at home or away who boo players who celebrate Ramadan and use the established protocol for breaking the fast,” the Premier League club said in a statement issued on Friday.

Leeds said they should have been “more proactive in our communications ahead of the Manchester City game, explaining to fans that this would happen” because “this was the first time the match at Elland Road had been paused to allow players who are fasting during Ramadan to break their fast.”

The club added: “There was a clear lack of awareness by some of those attending the match. While we displayed a message on our big screen at Elland Road to explain why the match had been paused, this was not visible to around 25% of the stadium.”

As a further explanation for why some fans reacted as they did, Leeds pointed to an incident during an away match against Manchester City in November, when Farke accused goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of faking an injury in order to “twist the rules” and allow Pep Guardiola’s side to have a tactical timeout on the touchline.

Leeds say it is important to ‘show respect’ when Norwich game pauses for players celebrating Ramadan to break their fast – including club striker Joel Perrault – after sunset on Sunday.

Sunset, the time when Muslims break their daily fast during the month of Ramadan, is expected to fall around the 75th minute of the match, which begins at 16:30 GMT.

Leeds also condemned the discriminatory chants and tragedy at football stadiums, as well as the ongoing taunts referring to Leeds-born Jimmy Savile, one of the UK’s most prolific sexual predators, who targets the club’s supporters by opposition fans.

“Football still has a long way to go to eradicate the blemishes in the game, including the racism, homophobia, catastrophic chants and disgusting Jimmy Savile taunts our fans are subjected to at every match from opposition fans,” Leeds said.

“As a club, we will continue to work to ensure these issues are resolved in time. On Sunday against Norwich City, there is an opportunity to show the best of Leeds United, and that everyone is welcome at Elland Road.”