Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton’s Russian star Bilyaletdinov ready to make a Din at Christmas
DINIYAR Bilyaletdinov has few fears about the physical nature of English football. He's had even less concerns about driving on the left. But Everton's new Russian winger admits he breaks out in a cold sweat when it comes to celebrating Christmas.[LNB]The £10million summer signing from Lokomotiv Moscow has already been the unfortunate victim of captain Phil Neville's jokes and has now been told to prepare a song for the Blues' Christmas party.[LNB]'Before each season and at Christmas, when everyone comes together for dinner, each player has to sing something,' Bilyaletdinov told Russian newspaper Sport Express. 'So I'm getting ready for December.[LNB]'Perhaps it needs to be something in Russian, so that they don't understand what I'm on about and no one else can join in.[LNB]'We love to joke. Before one team meal, Phil Neville called me up 10 minutes before and said everyone had to dress smartly. I took it seriously and turned up all smart, in a jacket and tie, and all the guys were sitting there in jeans, T-shirts and trainers.'[LNB]Despite the ribbing, Bilyaletdinov counts Neville and fellow midfielder Tim Cahill as the two team-mates who have helped him settle in the most.[LNB]And it was former Manchester United player Neville who came up with the goods when the 24-year-old wanted tickets to see CSKA Moscow play at Old Trafford in the Champions League last week.[LNB]Humour aside, Bilyaletdinov has revealed it was not such a culture shock relocating to England.[LNB]The left winger has recently moved into a rented apartment and enjoys the relative calm of Liverpool compared to the traffic jams of the Russian capital.
