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Liverpool star Sadio Mane has revealed that the club has altered its training schedule to better accommodate its Muslim players during the month of Ramadan.
The Reds have four Muslim players in their squad, all of whom have been partaking in the festival, which includes fasting. Speaking to beIN Sports, Mane admitted that playing games and training during Ramadan is not easy and that the players asked Jurgen Klopp and captain Jordan Henderson whether the club could help them by changing the schedule. He said:
"It's not easy, but we spoke to the captain and the boss to ask if we could change the schedule. We then trained in the morning, then we had time to rest and go home. If you train around 2pm or 3pm, it would be tough. But they said yes and it made things easier and we're trying to do our best!"
"It's tough but Liverpool tried to make everything easier for us. We spoke to our nutritionist Mona [Nemmer] as well and she made everything easier for us to ensure we could do our Ramadan."
Mane, along with Mohamed Salah, Ibrahima Konate and Naby Keita are all practicing Muslims who have been fasting throughout the month of April. Ramadan will come to an end on 2 May.
"He is world-class" - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Mane
Mane found the back of the net in Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Villarreal in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-finals tie. Speaking after the game, Klopp was asked whether Mane should be in contention for the Ballon d'Or. He said:
"Wow! He plays an outstanding season, Sadio is an outstanding player, I have nothing to do with the Ballon d'Or nomination and all these kind of things, I don't understand it really 100 per cent. He is world-class and played again a really good game for us. I don't know exactly how you come to that question now, the season is not even over. Historically you have to win something, I think, to win the Ballon d'Or most of the time."
"It was like this, that if you are not Messi or Ronaldo you have to win probably the Champions League, which we didn't do yet so give us a few more weeks and then we will see where we end up. Sadio wants to contribute, Sadio wants to help the team and that's what I love most of all."
