Algeria's goalkeeper Rais M’Bolhi was fasting during their game against Germany

Rais M’Bolhi during the game against Germany

With the holy month of Ramadan having started during the World Cup, a lot of the football world was wondering whether Muslim players were going to observe the fast or not.

Several Muslim players like Mesut Ozil and Bacary Sagna were quite clear that they would not be observing the fast for Ramadan while there were other players who chose to observe the fast instead.

Similarly, it was a critical decision for the Algerian Football team, who had to decide whether they would follow religious norms or not and their doubts were put to rest when Algerian Ministry for Religious Affairs gave the team the green light to go ahead and not observe the fast for Ramadan.

But the Algerian goalkeeper Rais M’Bolhi chose in his interest to go the religious way and observe the fast instead.

In Algeria’s round of 16 match against Germany, it is seen that at half time, M’Bolhi walked towards his goalpost to pick up a packet which contained dates, and as he was walking off the field, he consumed a date to break his fast.

Despite fasting, M’Bolhi put up a superb performance and even though Alegria crashed out of the tournament following their loss to Germany, he was definitely one of the best goalkeepers in this World Cup.