Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov born 30 January 1981 in Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United in the Premier League and the Bulgarian national team. He has won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award five times, equalling the number of wins by Hristo Stoichkov.

Early career
Berbatov's career began at the Pirin Blagoevgrad club, and continued until he was spotted by legendary scout and coach Dimitar Penev.

CSKA Sofia
At the age of just 17, Berbatov moved to CSKA Sofia following in the footsteps of his father, Ivan, who also played for the club as a left winger and later as a defender. He played for CSKA Sofia in the Bulgarian A PFG between 1998 and January 2001, making his debut as an 18-year-old in the 1998–99 season. He started to make his name the following year when he scored 14 goals in 27 league games and won the Bulgarian National Cup in 1999.

Bayer Leverkusen
A run of nine goals in 11 games in 2000–01 was enough to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to sign Berbatov in January 2001. Berbatov had a slow start to his Leverkusen career with just 16 goals in his first 67 appearances for the club. He did however play a crucial role in the Champions League during his first season with the club scoring a memorable solo effort against Lyon with an excellent piece of skill, as well as a goal against Liverpool in the quarter finals. He also played a part in the final against Real Madrid coming on as a substitute for Thomas Brdaric after 38 minutes.

Tottenham Hotspur
Speculation surrounded a potential move in 2004 for the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, but it was May 2006, when Berbatov finally joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of €16m, making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history. After being granted a work permit, the transfer was completed, and Berbatov joined Tottenham on 1 July 2006. He scored two goals in two minutes in his first match, as a Tottenham player against Birmingham. Despite his good form in European competition, Berbatov took a while to adapt to the Premiership. However, he soon began to regain the league form he had shown at Leverkusen with an excellent performance against Wigan Athletic, scoring one and creating the other two in a 3–1 win. On 9 December 2006, Berbatov scored his first Premiership brace for Spurs in a 5–1 victory for his side against Charlton Athletic. Berbatov came on as a second half substitute against Fulham in the FA Cup to score his first two goals in the competition. Berbatov scored his first away goal in the Premiership at Goodison Park against Everton, a first-time shot from around the penalty spot after an Aaron Lennon cross. Spurs went on to win the match 2–1.Berbatov and Spurs team-mate Robbie Keane were named joint winners of the Premier League Player of the Month award for April, becoming the first players to share the award since Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp and Edu, jointly claimed the award back in February 2004. He scored the 100th goal of Tottenham's 2006–07 season with the first goal of a 2–0 victory over Charlton Athletic on 7 May 2007.

Manchester United

Berbatov playing for Manchester United.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.This came despite Tottenham accepting a bid for Berbatov from Manchester City on the same day. Berbatov's contract to United is for four years and he wears the number 9 shirt previously worn by Louis Saha. Berbatov later insisted he never even considered a move to Manchester City.
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 2–1. He scored his first two goals for Manchester United in their 3–0 win away to Aalborg BK in the Champions League group stage on 30 September 2008. He scored the third goal in a 4–0 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 the Reds' 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 1–0 away win over Bolton Wanderers and help United to the top of the Premier League table for the first time in the season. Alex Ferguson defended Berbatov after the Bulgarian was the subject of much criticism for a penalty miss in the FA Cup 2008–09 semi-final against Everton, with Manchester United eventually losing to Everton in the penalty shoot-out. Soon after, Berbatov scored the fifth of United's goals as they came back from 2–0 down at half-time to win 5–2 against his former team, Tottenham Hotspur on 25 April 2009. Manchester United won the Premier League on 16 May 2009 with a 0–0 draw at home to Arsenal, to grant Berbatov his first career league title and make him the first Bulgarian to win the competition.


Honours

CSKA Sofia
Bulgarian Cup: 1999
Tottenham Hotspur
Football League Cup: 2007–08
Manchester United
Premier League: 2008–09
FIFA Club World Cup: 2008

Individual
Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
FA Premier League Player of the Month: April 2007
PFA Team of the Year: 2006–07

Dimitar became a father to a beautiful baby girl named Dea on the 16th of October 2009!!