Ramadan ‘Slowing Down’ FC Barcelona Star Ousmane Dembele’s Recovery From Injury: Reports

Ramadan fasting is causing further delays to FC Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele’s recovery from injury, according to Ara.

Starting the 2022/2023 season in fine form, Dembele hasn’t been seen in action since a January 28 meeting with Girona when he limped off the pitch with a hamstring knock.

Several target dates for a return have been scrapped. Though Barca have managed to maintain their lead at the top of La Liga, they have sorely missed the wideman’s assists and suffered painful exits from the Europa League playoffs and Copa del Rey semi-finals in his absence.

According to Ara, Dembele’s injury is healing slowly with the club’s head of medical services Dr. Pruna opting for a more conservative treatment.

Furthermore, though, the Catalan newspaper reports, voluntary fasting that devout Muslim Dembele is carrying out for Ramadan isn’t helping his recovery either as he is training in the morning without being able to hydrate.

This comes “despite the fact that the club has provided him with gastronomic guidelines adapted to these schedules”, with Barca believing that it is best to postpone Dembele’s discharge “until he can do a whole week of preparation with normalized eating habits”.

Ramadan finishes on April 21 this year, meaning that Dembele could be ready for April 23’s meeting with Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou.

As explained by Xavi in a recent press conference, however, there seems to be no rush to see Dembele and fellow sidelined first team star Pedri don Blaugrana any time soon.

“Because the feelings are not good,” Xavi answered, as to why their returns had been postponed. “This is about feelings and they were excited to participate [in training] but we don’t want to take any risks. The feelings [they have] will determine their return.”

“On a physical level, I have received data that we are the team that runs the most, we make more effort and do more sprints,” Xavi continued. “The injuries are normal. Which team has no injuries? Here too much importance is given to injuries.”

With the La Liga title practically tied up, this would be a wise approach from Xavi as opposed to throwing two of his biggest players back into the deep end prematurely and putting them in danger of suffering perhaps even lengthier setbacks.