Demba Ba takes aim at Nantes’ Antoine Kombouaré over handling of fasting players during Ramadan

Former Newcastle forward Demba Ba has taken to Twitter to criticise Nantes head coach Antoine Kombouaré over his handling of fasting players during Ramadan. Kombouaré sparked controversy last week after leaving Algeria international left-back Jaouen Hadjam (20) out of the squad after the latter had refused to break his fast on match day.

The other Muslim players in the Nantes squad played on Sunday against Reims because they had accepted to eat and drink on match day. “During the week, there are no problems with fasting players”, Kombouaré said. “I’m ready to support them if needed. We know it’s not an easy time. But on gameday, you should not fast. And those who fast are not in the squad. I don’t want them to pick an injury.“ Nantes eventually lost 3-0 against Reims.

These comments have angered Ba, who hit back at the former PSG boss. “It amazes me that there are some people who still think that the fasting month of Ramadan is behavioural,” he tweeted. “For those who are still wondering, we are talking about the identity of a person. A simple question: is it a good thing to ask someone to put aside what gives them their identity?“

Encore penser que le jeûne du mois de ramadan est comportemental me sidere. Pour ceux qui se pose encore la question, on parle bien du côté IDENTITAIRE d’une personne.
Une simple question, est-ce une bonne chose de demander à quelqu’un de mettre de côté ce qui fait son identité? https://t.co/C39hdTgqIK

— Demba Ba (@dembabafoot) April 2, 2023

Ba seemed to advise Kombouaré to take a leaf out Liverpool’s boss Jürgen Klopp’s book. “A [Jürgen] Klopp, for example, would in my opinion put the players in the best condition so that they can perform. And if they don’t, then they should be left out, for sporting and non-identity reasons.” The German coach fielded practising Muslim Mohamed Salah (30), for the Reds’ clash against Manchester City on Saturday, with the Egyptian opening the scoring.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval