Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United in the Premier League and the Bulgarian national team.[3][4] He has won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award five times, equalling the number of wins by Hristo Stoichkov. He is distinctive for his skilful, seemingly effortless style of play, which has earned him praise but also a perception as being "lazy".

Born in Blagoevgrad, Berbatov began his football career with his local club, Pirin Blagoevgrad, but joined CSKA Sofia as a 17-year-old in 1998. In January 2001, he was signed by Bayer Leverkusen, and 18 months later, he played in his first UEFA Champions League final, coming on as a substitute for Thomas Brdaric in the 2002 final against Real Madrid. After five-and-a-half years with Leverkusen, he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur, before joining Manchester United two years later. He played in his second Champions League final in 2009, competing against Barcelona.

Biography

Berbatov's father, Ivan, was a professional footballer with local outfit Pirin Blagoevgrad, and his mother, Margarita, was a professional handball player.As a youngster, Berbatov supported Milan and modelled himself on Marco van Basten, until Euro '96 in England, when the then fifteen year old discovered a new role model in Alan Shearer, formerly of Newcastle United, even sleeping in a Newcastle shirt. His mother later spoke of Dimitar's dream of playing for Newcastle one day.Berbatov learned the English language by watching the "Godfather" films.Outside of football, he lists his hobbies as drawing and basketball.

Berbatov is a sponsor of children's charities in his native Bulgaria, supporting five care homes.He also has plans to open a football academy in his hometown.



Personal information

Full name Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov
Date of birth 30 January 1981 (1981-01-30) (age 28)
Place of birth Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Striker

Club information

Current club Manchester United
Number 9

Youth career

Pirin Blagoevgrad

Senior career*

Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1998–2001 CSKA Sofia 50 (25)
2001–2006 Bayer Leverkusen 154 (69)
2006–2008 Tottenham Hotspur 70 (27)
2008– Manchester United 40 (12)

National team‡

1999– Bulgaria 73 (46)


Club career

Early career

Berbatov's career began at the Pirin Blagoevgrad club, and continued until he was spotted by legendary scout and coach Dimitar Penev.

CSKA Sofia

At the age of just 17, Berbatov moved to CSKA Sofia following in the footsteps of his father, Ivan, who also played for the club as a left winger and later as a defender. He played for CSKA Sofia in the Bulgarian A PFG between 1998 and January 2001, making his debut as an 18-year-old in the 1998–99 season. He started to make his name the following year when he scored 14 goals in 27 league games and won the Bulgarian National Cup in 1999.

At the age of 18 Berbatov was kidnapped following a training session as Bulgarian gangster Georgi Iliev, who has since been killed, tried to coerce the striker to sign for his own club, Levski Kjustendil.

In June 2000 he was about to be signed by Italian Serie A side Lecce. Former U.S. Lecce Director of football Pantaleo Corvino stated in an interview that Berbatov had already underwent a medical, but when it came to signing the contract, the move collapsed, probably due to another request by the player himself.

Bayer Leverkusen

A run of nine goals in 11 games in 2000–01 was enough to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to sign Berbatov in January 2001. Berbatov had a slow start to his Leverkusen career with just 16 goals in his first 67 appearances for the club. He did however play a crucial role in the Champions League during his first season with the club scoring a memorable solo effort against Lyon with an excellent piece of skill, as well as a goal against Liverpool in the quarter finals. He also played a part in the final against Real Madrid coming on as a substitute for Thomas Brdaric after 38 minutes.

In 2001–02, Leverkusen were runners-up in the Fußball-Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. During the 2002–03 Bundesliga season, Berbatov established his place as the first-choice forward at Bayer Leverkusen, but it was not until the 2003–04 season that he really began to shine, scoring 16 goals in 24 starts. The following two seasons saw him go from strength to strength, netting another 46 goals including five in the Champions League 2004–05, raising awareness of his talent and generating interest from teams throughout Europe.


Tottenham Hotspur

Speculation surrounded a potential move in 2004 for the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, but it was May 2006, when Berbatov finally joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of €16m,(£10.9 million).[18] making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history. After being granted a work permit, the transfer was completed, and Berbatov joined Tottenham on 1 July 2006. He scored two goals in two minutes in his first match, as a Tottenham player against Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly match.

Due to his highly impressive displays, especially in the latter half of the season, he won the Tottenham Hotspur player of the season award in 2006–07. Berbatov was also included in the FA Premier League's PFA Team of the Season on 21 April 2007, one of only three players in the team not to play for league winners Manchester United (the other two being Steven Gerrard and Didier Drogba). After Spurs narrowly lost to Arsenal in the North London derby on 22 December 2007, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger compared Berbatov to Thierry Henry.

His first Spurs Premier League hat-trick came on 29 December 2007 after he bagged four goals in a 6–4 win against Reading.
Berbatov played in his first cup final for Tottenham on 24 February 2008 in the Football League Cup at Wembley Stadium against Chelsea in which he scored an equalising penalty. Tottenham went on to win the game 2–1 after extra time, with Berbatov collecting his first trophy in English football. On 9 March, Berbatov scored a brace of headers in the 4–0 demolition of West Ham United.

This took his Premier League tally of goals for the season to twelve, which was equal to his 2007 league total. He ended the season with 15 league goals and an identical overall record of 23 goals and 11 assists in all competitions. He again scored Spurs' 100th goal of the season in this campaign, hitting the opener in the 1–1 draw at Wigan on 19 April.

The 2008–09 season began in circumstances when Berbatov's desires for greener pastures dominated tabloid headlines. Ongoing rumours of a substantial bid by Manchester United unsettled the striker, and despite training with Tottenham, Berbatov was dropped for the games against Sunderland.[23] and Chelsea.[24] United manager Alex Ferguson sought to quell these rumours, describing his feelings as "less optimistic" about securing new signings before the close of the transfer windows.

Manchester United

After much speculation, Berbatov completed a move to Manchester United on 1 September 2008 for a fee of around £30.75 million, with Fraizer Campbell joining Tottenham on a season-long loan as part of the deal. This came despite Tottenham accepting a bid for Berbatov from Manchester City on the same day. Berbatov's contract to United is for four years,and he wears the number 9 shirt previously worn by Louis Saha. Berbatov later insisted he never even considered a move to Manchester City.

Berbatov marked his Manchester United debut with an assist to a Carlos Tévez goal away to Liverpool but United went on to lose the game 2–1. He scored his first two goals for Manchester United in their 3–0 win away to Aalborg BK in the Champions League group stage on 30 September 2008. He scored the third goal in a 4–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion to mark his first Premier League goal as a Manchester United player.

On 29 October 2008, Berbatov assisted Cristiano Ronaldo to open the scoring in Man Utd's home game against West Ham United after using deft footwork to get past defender James Collins. On 17 January 2009, he scored a last-minute goal to secure a 1–0 away win over Bolton Wanderers and help Man Utd to the top of the Premier League table for the first time in the season. Alex Ferguson defended Berbatov after the Bulgarian was the subject of much criticism for a penalty miss in the FA Cup 2008–09 semi-final against Everton, with Manchester United eventually losing to Everton in the penalty shoot-out.Soon after, Berbatov scored the fifth of United's goals as they came back from 2–0 down at half-time to win 5–2 against his former team, Tottenham Hotspur on 25 April 2009.

Manchester United won the Premier League on 16 May 2009 with a 0–0 draw at home to Arsenal, to grant Berbatov his first career league title and make him the first Bulgarian to win the competition. In the same season Berbatov made 10 assists in the Premier League and finished joint second (along with Fabregas, Gerrard and Lampard) behind league leader Robin van Persie with 11.

Berbatov scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against Wigan Athletic on 22 August 2009, scoring the second goal of a 5–0 away win. On October 3, 2009, three days after an inspiring performance against Wolfsburg in the Champions League, he produced a sublime scissor-kick finish for the first of United's two equalizers against Sunderland A.F.C.

International

Berbatov made his debut for Bulgaria in 1999. On 12 February 2000, he scored his first goal for the national side in a friendly match against Chile. On 14 October 2009, he scored a hat-trick in the 6:2 home win in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Georgia, enabling him to bring his goal tally for the national side to 46 goals, just one short of the all-time top scorer for Bulgaria Hristo Bonev. He is currently the captain of the team

HONORS

Club

CSKA Sofia

* Bulgarian Cup: 1999

Tottenham Hotspur

* Football League Cup: 2007–08

Manchester United

* Premier League: 2008–09
* FIFA Club World Cup: 2008

Individual

* Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
* FA Premier League Player of the Month: April 2007
* PFA Team of the Year: 2006–07