Memorable moments: the legendary ‘Berbatov spin’! The Bulgarian striker assisted Ronaldo with a beautiful trick

Dimitar Berbatov was a special type of footballer. At first glance he seemed disinterested, rather just walking on the pitch, but then he could come up with some brilliant moment or score a wonderful goal.

Berbatov started his career at CSKA Sofia, where he scored 26 goals in three years and fifty games. So he was chosen by Bayer Leverkusen, where he spent 5 years, scoring 69 goals in 154 games.

He moved to England, where Tottenham chose him. Here too he was a good goalscorer and after 27 goals in 70 games he moved to Manchester United.

Here he experienced perhaps the highlight of his career. Manchester United bought him for £30 million and Berbatov began to repay the trust with goals.

He scored 14 goals in the 2008/09 season, two less in the next one. His best season was his third. Berbatov became the team’s workhorse, netting 21 goals. In the 2011/12 season, Berbatov didn’t play as many games and after the end of the season, Sir Alex Ferguson told him that there would be no place for him after the arrival of Robin van Persie.

The Bulgarian striker played for Fulham for two more years, then spent a year at Monaco and a year at PAOK in Greece. He finished his career with Kerala Blasters in India.

But if he had to choose the best moments of his career, he would look to Manchester United. And specifically to the 2008/09 season for the West Ham game.

Berbatov was running after a ball heading towards the byline, being caught by Hammers defender James Collins. However, the Bulgarian striker turned his back on goal smartly, lifted his head and found a charging Cristiano Ronaldo in front of goal, who cleared the ball into the net.

“That’s the moment I invented ‘Berba spin’. It was great because I prefer assisting to scoring goals. It was the first time I tried it at home – I was always trying to think of tricks. When I ran after the ball, it came on automatically.

Source: Youtube