Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many sports stars, current and former, have to look for new activities and ways to express themselves. The head coach of the youth national team of Russia on football Alexander Kerzhakov decided to master all the wisdom of the social network Instagram. Experiencing self-isolation at home with his family, he managed to prove himself both as a journalist and interviewer, quoted even in the United States, and as a blogger, whose posts began to be popular not only among specialized media.
Several times a week, Kerzhakov invites famous guests from the world of sports to live, inviting his subscribers to ask them interesting questions. The last guest of Kerzhakov at the moment was the leader of the Leningrad group Sergey Shnurov, who spoke about his favorite athletes and shared his experience of going to football matches.
“The first time I got to the stadium a long time ago, even when we played at Kirov. Do you like the new stadium? Like. The only bad thing is that so much fuss was around. It was necessary to build three times cheaper. Among the best athletes in the first place - Muhammad Ali. Watched his fights many times. This is a work of art. Ali is always different - a great artist, a great athlete. You could say he taught me music, playing the instruments. Who else can I name? The swimmer who won in my childhood all the time was Vladimir Salnikov. Well, Valery Kharlamov, of course, ”said the musician, in whose videos Kerzhakov starred several times.
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Publication by Kerzhakov Aleksandr (@ a.kerzhakov11) Apr 13, 2020 at 9:19 am PDT
Before Shnurov, an ex-footballer invited a live hockey player Artemy Panarin, with whom he has been friends since he played in St. Petersburg for SKA. Earlier, Kerzhakov even admitted that he named his youngest son in honor of the New York Rangers player. The conversation between them turned out to be very frank. Panarin shared his thoughts on what he could have done if he had not been a hockey player, and spoke about the condition of roads in New York.
“Since I was finishing evening school, probably in large companies they did not wait for me. Korkin would have muddied the business. My grandmother was just baking pies and selling. My whole family drove moonshine. All the alcohol was under us. But I have never tried moonshine in my life. Older friends came to visit me and tried it, and then my grandmother swore at my grandfather, ”the forward admitted.
“In New York it is impossible to drive a car, there are terrible roads. Worst in America. Therefore, I drive around the city either in a yellow taxi or in Uber. There are also problems with parking there - it is very expensive, ”the hockey player complained.
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Publication by Kerzhakov Aleksandr (@ a.kerzhakov11) Apr 9, 2020 @ 12:33 pm PDT
Panarin also spoke on the subject of salary cuts for athletes during a pandemic. Answering a question from subscriber Kerzhakov, he said that he would refuse to play if he lost the same percentage of income as the players of the Russian Premier League.
“In RPL, they cut by 40-60%? I think we will have less. If from 40 to 60%, then why am I doing this at all? Then, perhaps, I will miss the next year. We still do not understand. They say that in the region of 20-30% ... Yes, I can breathe in any case, I'm not complaining. But we still have a tax - somewhere around 45-50% I pay up to 20% of these, and 20-30% is still on top, ”Panarin said.
This statement did not go unnoticed in North America and caused bewilderment among both fans and the Rangers. After this interview, Panarin had to assure his employers that he was just joking about the possible skipping of the next season, and the whole New York Post wrote about the whole story.
Also on Instagram Fedor Smolov looked at Kerzhakov. The Celta striker told how his transfer to the club from Vigo was organized.
“Everything happened spontaneously. There was already the end of the transfer window. There was an offer from Feyenoord, but Lokomotiv refused to give me back there. “Villarreal” didn’t get to the point, there was also “West Bromwich” - literally a day before the “Celta” appeared. Between training camps, I flew to London, one evening I was sitting at a dinner with friends when an agent called me: “So and so, there is a proposal, you need to make a quick decision.” He immediately said that I agree, ”said Smolov.
He also shared his impressions of his debut goal for the Spanish team, which he recorded as an asset in a guest match with Real Madrid.
Santiago Bernabeu is just the top. When you go out for a warm-up, it is already 60 percent full ... You feel the whole atmosphere. There it is impossible to play badly, not to be able to play or not to tune in to this match. Such meetings are remembered for a lifetime, plus you play against the strongest, best football players in the world at the moment. To score in such a game is cool, ”Smolov told Kerzhakov.
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Publication by Kerzhakov Aleksandr (@ a.kerzhakov11) Apr 7, 2020 at 11:39 PDT
In addition to Shnurov, Panarin and Smolov, an interview with the best scorer of the Russian national team was given by Sochi forward Alexander Kokorin and Zenit legend Andrei Arshavin, as well as goalkeeper of the St. Petersburg club Mikhail Kerzhakov, Alexander’s younger brother.
Exciting live broadcasts are not the only thing Kerzhakov Sr. tries to entertain subscribers. Together with his family, he also began to make skits on the covers of legendary music albums in isolation. The first was the famous photograph from the cover of the Abbey Road album by The Beatles, only on it he and his children not only cross the street, but go to the tank to throw out the trash.
- © a.kerzhakov11 / Instagram; Wikipedia
Then the Kerzhakov family remembered the Queen II album of the cult British rock band. In the photo, they put on masks and gloves, thus advising subscribers to take precautions when distributing COVID-19. Kerzhakov also posted on Instagram home parodies on the covers of the albums of Definetely Maybe by Oasis and Cleanin 'Out My Closet by rapper Eminem, replacing the wardrobe with a refrigerator.
- © a.kerzhakov11 / Instagram; Wikipedia
It is worth adding that, being on self-isolation, the children of Kerzhakov do not forget about education. In history, the footballer showed how he conducts a chemical experiment with his son Igor. Together they made a small home volcano. Kerzhakov also complained about too complicated math problems in elementary school and repeated the famous trick with Coke and Mentos.
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Publication by Kerzhakov Aleksandr (@ a.kerzhakov11) Mar 27, 2020 at 7:35 am PDT