Changing Room Chat: Aiden McGeady in a right Moscow muddle

AIDEN McGeady admitted yesterday that it is proving toughski to learn Russki, and this is his main problem living in Moscow.

While he has grasped the basic expressions, things go wrong when he is out with his girlfriend in the city.

"Pass, forward, back, straight on - I managed to learn all that immediately," he told a Russian sports magazine.

"But in day-to-day life I still know only a few words which I can use. Like 'hello, how are you?', 'good, thank you', 'my name is Aiden'. That's all." Things went wrong when he was out with girlfriend Claire and asked his driver to teach him a useful phrase.

"I asked him to teach me how to order a table in a restaurant and learned the words: 'Zdravsnvuyte! Mozhnio stolik na dvoikh, pozhaluista'.

"But when me and my partner Claire arrived at the restaurant and I pronounced it all, all I got was a puzzled look from the waiter who then said in perfect English: 'Ah, so you just need a table for two?'

"I was really disappointed."