Dimitar Berbatov very rarely speaks in public. It is an attitude that has contributed to the air of mystique surrounding the 30-year-old Bulgarian, who remains Alex Ferguson’s most expensive signing. However Simon Stone, with United on their tour of the US, was granted an exclusive interview with one of the most talked about players of his generation. This is what they discussed.
Q: Dimitar, I have spoken to you before about your charity work. Do you have wider responsibility for Bulgarian football because you are an icon in your country?
A: I am not an icon. I just try to use my status and popularity back home to do some stuff for good causes. For instance, I have my charitable Foundation, which supports talented kids. Obviously there are a lot of Foundations that support people with problems but I decided to support the talented kids because nobody is doing anything for them. I try to help as much as I can.
Q: You seem very enthusiastic for it. It seems to mean a great deal to you.
A: It still does. Maybe I don’t show it but it does.
Q: It appears more important for you to be viewed as a human being rather than just a football player.
A: Many people helped me when I was starting my career on and off the pitch. I am trying to do the same for the kids. I am sure that one of them will do great things when they grow up. I know it because they are enthusiastic when they meet me and also the things they show me and the achievements that have done in the area they have participated in. It is pretty exciting to see kids back home doing so great with so little.
Q: You are the embodiment of what they want to be. You have achieved these things.
A: I hope so. I hope they see me as a successful person and say to themselves ’ok, one day I want to be like him’. Maybe not a football player but a swimmer or an actor. I want them to achieve something in life. If they use me as a role model that is a good thing.
Q: You are happy being that person?
A: Yes. When I was young, I was looking to people like Stoichkov. He was, and still is, an icon in Bulgarian football. I told myself one day I would like to be as successful as him. Dreams do come true sometimes.
Q: Last season you won Golden Boot but were left out of European Cup squad. How do you assess that?
A: I don’t want to go back to that. What it is, it was – does that make any sense? Now I am looking to the future. I was pretty happy we did the historical thing about the 19th title. I was part of it. I was the top goalscorer of the team. For me, the personal thing was great. I come from a small country and I always dreamt big. I was pretty happy when we did all these things.
Q: You think a lot about things and their wider meaning. Was it the hardest blow you have had to overcome in your career? Everything else has seemed so easy.
A: I still have time. Sometimes in the future it happens I am sure.
Q: You scored a hat-trick against Liverpool, the first time anyone had done it for 64 years. What did that mean to you?
A: You didn’t see that one coming, eh? It was a good game for me obviously. I didn’t know scoring three goals against Liverpool would mean so much to so many people. It was just a game for me. Even if it had finished 1-0 and I had scored the goal, it would have been fine. Obviously three goals – and the second one was a bit special – it will stay in my memory for ever. When they see me, people always ask about that day and that goal. It is nice.
Q: Would you like to think if someone else does it in 64 years’ time people will remember you and say Dimitar Berbatov was a good player for Manchester United?
A: Who would not like that? Most players play with a dream that some day, when they have finished, people will tell their grandchildren that they were a good player. I am the same. But I don’t think it will be 64 years before someone does it again. Maybe the next one will be next year. Football is changing. There are so many great players. It is not easy to do but it is not as difficult. I always kept believing in myself – and after that I scored five goals!
Q: It was only the fourth time for that – that is what I mean about last season, there were so many magnificent highs for you.
A: It was. Five goals was great.
Q: What did you think as they were all going in?
A: When I scored my second I thought probably here is another hat-trick for me. But five? Probably after the fourth, I was thinking about five. Surprisingly, people ask me why I didn’t get a sixth. I would have been the only one to do that. First of all, I never thought about it. I never think about things like this. I just try to enjoy. Secondly, Andy Cole and Alan Shearer would be mad at me if I scored six goals. To be in their company is nice. And what makes me really proud is that there have been so many foreigners playing in English football, I am the only one with five goals.
Q: Quite an achievement?
A: Yes. But it is something I have to push to the back of my mind. For me, the thing is about the team. As you said, last season I had highs in my career. But what if we didn’t win the title? Then these things wouldn’t matter so much. But we won it. That is it. It was great.
Q: From a team perspective, trying to win title number 20, making up for what happened against Barcelona – are they the things that will drive you on?
A: We are not afraid of the challenge. Of course it will drive me on. The good thing about football is that there is always next year. You can make things right. Obviously, Barcelona and Manchester United are the top teams in the world right now. Title number 20 and the Champions League are the main priorities. That is what we want to win. This is what we will try to do. In the end, what is Manchester United about, winning everything there is to win. It is normal.
Q: As someone who can play and control the ball, what do you think about Barcelona?
A: I am not going to say anything different from other players. They play great football probably because they keep it simple. One or two touches all the time. Movement all over the pitch. Playing in the spaces. That is it.
Q: Some people look at their style and reach conclusions, other people look at your style and reach conclusions and say you don’t care enough. Does that bother you?
A: Yes. You are not going to see me puffing around the pitch. There is a saying in Bulgaria that great quality doesn’t require much effort.
Q: Is that your natural way of playing?
A: I always play like this. That is what got me here. Last season was proof that even if you have some downs in your career, if you believe in the way you play, in your style of play, you can do it as well.
Q: You have a year left on contract. Would you like to stay beyond that?
A: That is a personal thing that we only discuss with the boss and the chairman.
Q: You have said anyone who leaves Manchester United is taking a step down. Do you still believe that?
A: Of course. Manchester United is the top. Smaller clubs might be able to match Manchester United with the way they play, with their organisation, everything. But Manchester United are at the top. Where can you go from there? Only down. Maybe Barcelona. At the moment, I don’t see anything else. If you go somewhere it is a big step down. For me, I always went up, up, up in my career. I am happy.
Q: How would you like to be remembered by the Manchester United supporters?
A: As a good player, trying to do good things on the pitch. Just doing things the fans enjoyed. I always tend to think my goals are beautiful goals. That is what I want to score; beautiful goals, and create beautiful chances for my team-mates. The things that every player will tell you if they ask you that question.
Q: But not every player does say that. Not every player says they want to do beautiful things.
A: Every player is different probably. Like I told you, you are not going to see me puffing around the pitch.
Q: That is not your way?
A: No.
Q: There are seven strikers on this tour, does the challenge of getting into the team, playing regularly, winning the Golden Boot, excite you, or is there something else that drives you on?
A: I am not 21 any more. There are many young and talented players now, including some from the academy. You can see that if you watch games on TV. All my life I have tried to prove myself. I have worked hard. Given a chance, I have tried to show what I can do. The last season is in the past. The goals I scored, what I did, I have done it. This is a new season. It starts all over again.
Q: Does the process of proving yourself start all over again? Not just because of the European Cup. Is it the same at the start of every season?
A: Yes. Probably this thinking keeps me motivated and concentrated, not to allow myself to be satisfied with what I have already achieved. Next season I will have new goals to score as many as possible, probably more than last season. Win everything there is to win. That is it. I look at myself. I look at Ryan Giggs. He has so many titles. In the time I have at Manchester United, if I win as many as possible, it would be good for me.
Q: I am fascinated by that attitude. How can someone like Ryan win 12 titles and still want more?
A: That is what keeps him hungry. He is older than me. You see that motivation in training. He wants to show he is still capable of doing things like he did when he was 25. It is still there. If I was him, I would do the same – stay at one club, Manchester United. Why would you want to go anywhere else? But for me it is different. I come from a small country. I have the good fortune to play for Manchester United. For the time I am here I try to do my best and win everything there is to win. There is no other way I can play.
Q: That drive is still there in your mind? People don’t associate you with fierce determination.
A: I am a very proud person. I don’t like to show my weaknesses in public. I don’t want to show my emotions in public. That is why people probably sometimes misjudge me. But that is ok.
Q: It is misjudgement of your character?
A: Yes.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/oTc4EQ-ALe0/post.aspx
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