‘I hope I entertained people. I know I did. When someone watches my clips back, I want them to see poetry in motion – how you dance with the ball’ Dimitar Berbatov addresses his place in football history

By Contributions from published

The former Manchester United and Tottenham forward was one of the most talented players of his generation

Dimitar Berbatov celebrates after scoring his third goal for Manchester United against Liverpool at Old Trafford in September 2010.
Berbatov celebrates a goal for Manchester United (Image credit: Getty Images)

Few players had the ability to make scoring goals at the highest level look as effortless as Dimitar Berbatov did during his time as one of the Premier League’s most lethal strikers during his stints at Manchester United and Tottenham.

The forward, who FourFourTwo ranked at no.64 in a list of the 100 best Premier League players of all-time, struck 94 goals during his Premier League stints with the Red Devils, Spurs and Fulham

Berbatov won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year seven times, twice more than his legendary countryman Hristo Stoichkov and admits that he is extremely proud of the career he was able to carve out.

Berbatov reflects on his career

Dimitar Berbatov

Berbatov celebrates his Premier League Golden Boot (Image credit: Getty)

“Extremely, because I came from a small country, in Bulgaria, so to reach England and represent Manchester United was a great honour for me,” he tells FourFourTwo. “I know the way I needed to work to get there.

“Some of my colleagues who I played with made it even higher than me, and some a little lower, but I was happy that I was part of the history of such a big football club, Manchester United – and all of my clubs, of course, that helped me to get there.

Dimitar Berbatov hits a volley for Tottenham against Middlesbrough in 2008.

Dimitar Berbatov hits a volley for Tottenham against Middlesbrough in 2008 (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I also had some missed opportunities to win trophies, but that’s how football is sometimes – it can be cruel. But you just take it on the chin and continue.”

Berbatov’s laid-back manner often saw him criticised by rival fans for a perceived lack of effort, but he hopes his style of play will be remembered fondly when supporters look back at his career.

“I hope I entertained people,” he continues. “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, with an end result.

Dimitar Berbatov

The Bulgarian netted more than 300 times for club and country during his career (Image credit: Getty Images)

“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 boys or girls to try to copy what I did, great.”

Dimitar was speaking to FFT on behalf of LiveScore and LiveScore Bet. LiveScore’s mission is to fuel fans’ passion for sport – download the app for real-time updates and head to livescore.com for more info

Joe Mewis
Joe Mewis

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.

With contributions from

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.