Dimitar Berbatov seemed to be running harmlessly towards the Old Trafford corner flag, when he unleashed the skill he’d been working on in his living room at home.
Sprinting to stop Anderson’s pass going out for a goal kick, Berbatov stopped the ball with his right foot, spun 180 degrees, then flicked it past James Collins, all in a split second. The West Ham defender didn’t know what had just happened, but Berbatov was suddenly sauntering into the penalty area unattended, expertly squaring for Cristiano Ronaldo to tap home.
The Bulgarian had been a Manchester United player for just a month – already he’d delivered a moment that fans would remember, performing his spin on near enough the same blade of grass where Fernando Redondo had backheeled his way past Henning Berg for a famous Real Madrid goal eight years earlier.
Berbatov’s piece of skill became the subject for a song, Berbatov Spin by Broke Boy Fly – one of at least three tracks that have been written about him, including another by Thessaloniki rapper Richi, after the striker spent time in the city playing for PAOK towards the end of his career.
His spin assist was typical of the style and swagger he displayed throughout a career that took him from Blagoevgrad, his home town at the foot of the Rila mountains, and onwards to CSKA Sofia, Bayer Leverkusen and Spurs, before his 2008 move to Manchester, where he also scored a hat-trick against Liverpool and five in one game against Blackburn. In total, he found the net 329 times during his career.
Previously, the two-time Premier League winner has spoken of how his languid style of play was based on kung fu. “You have someone who’s going crazy, and someone doing slow movements – the one with the correct movements destroys the other guy,” he once explained.
Like a true rock’n’roll footballer, Berbatov might have sometimes given off the vibe that he didn’t really care, but that was always an act – today, chatting to FFT, he reveals it was an act that was actually inspired by a character in a little-known Italian spaghetti western movie.
Now 45, having retired in 2019, he’s European brand ambassador for LiveScore and LiveScore Bet, and speaking to us after taking his two daughters on the slightly less rock’n’roll school run in his homeland. In this interview, in keeping with the theme of this issue of the magazine, Berbatov is ready to intelligently articulate what it was like to be a much-loved maverick, and what was really going on underneath that nonchalant facade.
Looking back at your career, how would you describe your style of play?
Well honestly, without any modesty right now, I’d say that long before there was a striker dropping deep, it was me and Robbie Keane at Spurs, dropping deep from the central attacking position to receive the ball and play people in behind – playing almost like a number nine and a number 10, all in one. I always enjoyed doing that because I was technically gifted and I had my touch, so it was easier for me to read the game. I felt great satisfaction dropping deep, trying to feed my team-mates so they could score – sometimes when I assisted, I felt more joy than when I scored. Now there are false nines, but let’s not forget that back in the day, even before my time, there were strikers who’d come and get the ball, then feed others. Football is like a cycle.
Your style inspired people – three songs have even been written about you, including one called Berbatov Spin.
[Laughs] I didn’t know about this! That’s actually what I was talking about, because the Berba Spin was an assist – it was so good and the moment was so right, everything happened so perfectly, that I can agree that a song is a good thing to have to describe it! Those types of movement and improvisations, they brought me so much joy. When I did the Berba Spin, I could hear the crowd go ‘Whoaaa!’ That made my day even more, and when I passed to Ronaldo to score, it was complete.
Do you still watch that clip a lot, and did that goal sum you up more than any other, even though you didn’t score it yourself?
I had good assists that aren’t mentioned regularly, that one pops up all the time, and I scored beautiful goals as well, but that was me, how I saw football and how I thought it should be played. Improvisation, of course with an end result, because if you have improvisation without the end result, you need to go to the circus. In my case, I wanted to have improvisation with great assists and great goals – sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but that’s how football is. You need to enjoy and entertain the fans, but with an end result. That was me, and for me it worked.
You’ve spoken previously about how you tried to look cool and unbothered after that assist for Ronaldo?
[Laughs] From time to time I do go back and watch it, because we miss the old days, we miss when we used to play football, and you just want to see what you did back in the day. If you watch it, after that goal, you’re right, I was walking and just pretending that ‘Nothing happened guys, I do this all the time, what is all the fuss?!’ But inside of me, I knew I’d done something special, because of the noise of the crowd. I knew straight away that they loved it.
That unbothered look was a trademark of yours during your career, even after you did exceptional things. Where did that come from?
Well, it’s going to sound funny now, what I’m going to tell you. It’s connected in a way to how I see football, as kung fu. That’s how I used to move, like floating. And to answer your question about why I was like that, it’s because growing up, there was one movie called They Call Me Trinity with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, I don’t know if you know those types of actors? There were two movies actually, They Call Me Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name – the guy in the movie, he was always a bit laidback, a bit like he didn’t care, but he was the fastest draw in the west and everybody knew that, so everybody respected him. Even if you underestimate him, then you’ll be surprised by all the things that he can do.
When I was a boy growing up watching that movie, I thought ‘I like that guy, he’s so laidback and cool – he knows he’s good, but he doesn’t need to show it because he’s confident he’s good, he doesn’t care what everybody thinks’. In a way, probably in my conscience without even realising it, I was putting that into my game and maybe even my life. I’m a big movie buff, I love watching a lot of movies, so that was probably inserted into my life and my way of playing football.
Do you think individuality is being lost a bit now, that players are coached to be more robotic, within a tactical system?
I’ve never been one to compare myself to someone else or compare different periods, but now football has changed – it’s more athletic, more tactical. I understand that, because at the end of the day, results are the most important. If you’re first place, you’re champions, you get more money, you play Champions League football, you get even more money, so let’s not forget that football is also business. But football is also art – football was the love of my life. During the time when I played, it was the right moment for me because it was more artistic, more poetry – taking the ball, thinking, outsmarting the opponents, entertaining. I’m not saying we don’t have players like that now – Lionel Messi is still playing, Ronaldo and Kevin De Bruyne, even though he’s left Manchester City. We still have artists on the pitch, but maybe it’s a bit more physical right now, with more athleticism.
You had quite a journey to reach the top, growing up in the final years of communism in Blagoevgrad. You sometimes had to play football with a pig’s bladder?
Yeah, we did. That’s why it’s good to look back sometimes and reminisce, to remember how it was and how it is now. I also try to teach my kids what I went through, my story. Everyone has their own story. In my family, we grew up with a bit of difficulty, we didn’t have much for football, so we needed to improvise, right? Back then, you didn’t understand that those were challenges, you took it as a game. There were no phones, no social media, so what do you do? You try to find something, you go on to the streets. You run into some problem with someone maybe, or you just try to excite yourself in some way.
With us, it was kicking the ball. We didn’t have a ball? OK. We had a custom back in the day to slaughter a pig on a special holiday – the women would cook it, and out of that you’d get the bladder of the pig. You blow it up, it’s a bit disgusting, but it looks like a ball, you wrap a towel around it and now you have a football. You try to kick it as much as you can, then when you grow up, things start to change and you get a football. Later in life, if you’re lucky, patient and work hard, you become a professional.
Was playing with a pig’s bladder part of why you were so brilliant at controlling a football, which was presumably easier?
I think it was just because I started very early – I knew at a very early age what I wanted to do. I found my purpose really early in my life and that prevented me from making a lot of mistakes that a lot of young people were making. Of course I made my share of mistakes, but they were small mistakes, not big ones that you couldn’t reverse. I knew I wanted to be a football player, I was really concentrated and dedicated in my mind to try to achieve something. That saved me, and paved my way to reach my personal top.
Interestingly, you’ve said that when fans sang about you during matches, even positively, you sometimes felt uncomfortable?
Yeah, because the first time I think I experienced that was with Spurs, when I came to England. When I used to play in Germany, there were a couple of things like that, but not so big as in England, where you have a song and they chant your name. The first time I heard it, I was like ‘What is happening?’ It put me in the spotlight and I wasn’t ready for that, I just wanted to play football, even though we’re in the spotlight on the pitch anyway. In that moment, I was like ‘Guys, what is going on? I want it to stop’. I felt embarrassed and to be honest, yes, it’s nice, it’s a great gesture of course and I appreciate it, but at times it made me uncomfortable.
That’s surprising for a star player – someone like Ronaldo probably would have loved it?
It depends who you are of course, how you see life and how you see gestures like that. Sometimes when I’d scored four or five goals, when I was feeling confident and in the mood and they sang my song, then I sang myself as well in my mind and I felt good! It’s different depending on the moment.
When you weren’t as confident, could your unbothered look be a mask for how you were feeling?
Of course. Everybody has their difficulties in their career and in my situation when I played as a striker, when you don’t score goals, that’s the moment where you’re in the spotlight in a negative way. The position of a striker automatically says that you need to score goals, and if you don’t, you’re not doing your job. There’s so much to the position of a striker – how he plays, how he moves, how he frees the space, holds the ball and brings everybody into the play. But of course number one is goals.
So when I didn’t score goals, it was tough for me – I’d be sitting in my apartment or house, or wherever I was, replaying the game in my mind. What did I do that wasn’t good enough, what do I need to do next time so that I can correct myself? Sometimes that can be a dangerous place to be, because if you don’t know how to get out of that vicious circle of negative thinking, you’re going to stay there for a long period of time. That’s why sometimes football is not so much about what you can do with your legs, but in your head. If you’re not good there, your legs are going to be suffering and the whole thing is not going to be good for you.
That’s something I speak about with young players, especially here in Bulgaria. Yes, everybody has problems if you’re a striker and you don’t score, I’ve been there. But the only thing to do is to be strong in your head. It’s difficult, and if you have the right people around you, the right environment – your wife, your kids, your girlfriend, your agent, your team-mates, your coach – they will help you. If you can help yourself, even better – it’s going to make you even stronger. But don’t stay too much in that zone of negative thinking.
What have you been doing since retirement? Have you ever been tempted to become a manager?
Every ex-player thinks he’s going to be great as a manager. If you ask anyone, he’ll say ‘Of course, I will be the best!’ Even if he doesn’t admit it, he’ll be thinking it, because that’s how we are – especially strikers, big egos, we know everything! Of course that’s far away from the truth. I have been tempted, I’ve been thinking about it, I have my A Licence, but I have my foundation back home here, we’re supporting talented kids in arts, sports and science, we try to encourage them as much as we can, and help them to go into their teens in a better position with the choices they make, how they see life, what they want to do. I try to inspire them with my own story. I also work with Manchester United as an ambassador, I have other business ventures as well. When someone here in Bulgaria asks me how I am, I don’t have the right to complain because I’ve done my part, I achieved my personal top. So compared to other people and how they live here, I don’t need to complain at all.
How proud are you of your career?
Very proud because I came from a small country in Bulgaria, so to reach England and reach Manchester United, it was a great honour for me. I know the way I needed to work to get there, and my personal top was Manchester United. Some of my colleagues that I played with reached higher than me, some reached lower, but I was happy that I was part of the history of that big club – and all of my clubs of course, that helped me to get there. I also had some missed opportunities to win trophies, but that’s how football is sometimes – it can be cruel, but you take it on the chin and continue.
How do you hope people remember Dimitar Berbatov the footballer?
I hope I entertained them – I know I entertained them, to be honest. I did my best to do that every time, even if I didn’t show it, and even if sometimes it didn’t work. But if it didn’t work, I was ready to try the next time, of course with an end result. When someone watches my clips, my goals and assists, I want them to see poetry in motion, how you improvise, how you dance with the ball, how you touch the ball, how you read the game. If I can inspire some young boys or girls to try to copy what I did, great.
Berbatov was speaking on behalf of LiveScore and LiveScore Bet. LiveScore’s mission is to fuel fans’ passion for sport – download the LiveScore app for real-time updates, and visit livescore.com for more info
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