A short video showing most of Dimitar Berbatov's goals during the 08/09 campaign with Manchester United .

Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov (Bulgarian: Димитър Иванов Бербатов IPA: [diˈmitər bɛrˈbatɔf]; born 30 January 1981)[1] 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".[5]

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 Brdarić 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. 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.[26][27] This came despite Tottenham accepting a bid for Berbatov from Manchester City on the same day.[28] Berbatov's contract to United is for four years,[29] and he wears the number 9 shirt previously worn by Louis Saha. Berbatov later insisted he never even considered a move to Manchester City.[30]

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 21.[31] He scored his first two goals for Manchester United in their 30 win away to Aalborg BK in the Champions League group stage on 30 September 2008.[32] He scored the third goal in a 40 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 10 away win over Bolton Wanderers and help Man Utd to the top of the Premier League table for the first time in the season.[33] Alex Ferguson defended Berbatov after the Bulgarian was the subject of much criticism for a penalty miss in the FA Cup 200809 semi-final against Everton, with Manchester United eventually losing to Everton in the penalty shoot-out.[34] Soon after, Berbatov scored the fifth of United's goals as they came back from 20 down at half-time to win 52 against his former team, Tottenham Hotspur on 25 April 2009.[35] Manchester United won the Premier League on 16 May 2009 with a 00 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 200910 season against Wigan Athletic on 22 August 2009, scoring the second goal of a 50 away win.[36] On October 3, 2009, three days after an inspiring performance against Wolfsburg in the Champions League[37], he produced a sublime scissor-kick finish for the first of United's two equalizers against Sunderland A.F.C.

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