Ezequiel Garay: «I’ve known Messi since I was 14, he’s not just a good guy on the pitch, but off of it as well»

All of the answers to the fans' questions in the full version of the interview with the Blue-White-Sky Blues' defender. 

—How does your wife like St. Pete? She isn’t bored? (David Nesterov)
—Both of us really like St. Petersburg because it is a really beautiful city and there’s a lot of interesting things here. So we are happy, it’s fun for us here. Sometimes my wife does some work in Spain, so she goes there sometimes. It’s worked out that she does some similar work that interests her here in St. Petersburg as well. 

— Have you already decided what you are going to name your child? (Ilya Boikov)
— We actually just wrote in our social media that we don’t know the sex of our child, but if it’s a girl we are going to name her Shaila, and if its a boy we  will name him Dylan. 

—Who would you like to see with the team after the summer transfer window? (Vlad Tarasov)
—That’s not my prerogative to judge which player is worth inviting to «Zenit». I think that the trainer and the team’s leadership will decide those questions. I can say that whoever the team does invite — he will be happily welcomed. 

—What’s the most widespread misbelief about Russa? (Alexander Kotov)
—You know I haven’t encountered that many stereotypes about Russia. The main thing that people would say when I was playing at «Benfica» is that it is really cold there. And that turned out to be true! But my wife and I have already been able to adapt to it.


—Do you think that you are one of the best defenders in the world? In my view you are in the top three! (Kirill Gusev) 
—First of all, thank you very much! But there are a lot of great players in the world, and each one of them should try to do as much as they can for their own team. I am doing everything that I can to help «Zenit» get the needed result. If you are talking about the best defenders in the world, you can name a pretty long list. I’d put Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Tiago Silva and David Luiz in there. 


—How come you aren’t shaving your beard? Do you want to grow it out like Neto? (Ilya Fedorov)
—I started to grow out my beard three years ago. I think it’s good to change your look from time to time. Right now I’m completely happy with how my beard looks, I like it. 

—What kind of a relationship do you have with Leo Messi? Just as teammates or are you friends? (Lena Mokeeva)
—I’ve known him since I was fourteen years old, when we first started to play together for Argentina’s national team. I should say that Messi is good not only on the pitch, but also with his character too. 

— What do your parents do? Have they been able to come to St. Pete yet? (Marusia Rozenbloom)
—My parents live in Madrid, they are raising my brothers and sisters, taking them to school and to practice. My brother is right now playing for «Real’s» youth team, and thanks to the work that my parents have done, he has the chance to make it onto one of the best clubs in the world. When we all lived in Argentina, my parents had to work a lot, but it’s good that they can now dedicate themselves to the family. Well and relax a little bit, they really did do a lot for me. They haven’t had a chance to come visit me in St. Petersburg yet: my brother trains every day so they just don’t have the chance to go anywhere. 


—How did you meet your wife? (Oleg Ivanov) 
— We met in Spain. Tamara is a TV host, and she was hosting a show that used to watch a lot and like a lot too. Then a mutual friend introduced us. Now we are very happy and really love one another. We are going to have a child soon, something that we have waited for and dreamt about for a long time. 

— What teams do you root for? (Arseny Titorenko)
—I watch the teams that I used to play for the most, where my good friends and acquaintances are still playing, the guys that I used to play with. Primarily it’s «Benfica», «Barcelona» and «Manchester United». 

— Ezequiel, have you tried vodka? (Sergey Smirnov)
—Voka!? No! I can sometimes allow myself a glass of wine with dinner, but not more than that. 

—Where would you like to play after «Zenit»? (Alexey Babenko)
—I can’t say anything about this concretely. I really like St. Petersburg, I have a lot of years left on the contract. And I hope to play here until my contract finishes. 

—How’s the best player  in the RFPL? Besides you of course! (Lena Mokieva) 
—The Russian league is a tournament with a very high level of competition in large part because there are a lot of strong interesting footballers. I would say Hulk — it’s not a coincidence that teams devote so much attention to him, trying to block his attacks. 


—Were you named in honour of one of your relatives, or is Ezequiel just a biblical name? Is it unusual in Argentina, or are there more than a few Ezequiels in Argentina? To the Russian ear the name sounds exotic! (Gennady Zelenev)
—Exotic? Then I suppose I’m just an exotic guy! My parents named me that just because they liked the name Ezequiel and I am very happy with their choice. But my friends call me something shorter — Ese. 

—Can you cook? What’s the main Argentinian national dish? (Angelina Pavlova) 
—I can cook a little, I can, for example, bake some veal with ham, cheese and a grated egg. The main dish of Argentina is meat of course, grilled on a stake, «Matambra».