Manchester United will regain glory days, says Dimitar Berbatov

Manchester United shirt. Time has failed to whittle away his passion for the red shirt. Berbatov used to be the stylist, the magician, a luxury that even Alex Ferguson, the master of the helter-skelter, could ill afford.

Berbatov won two league titles at Manchester United and was the top scorer in the second of those — 2010/11. The cool and com-posed Bulgarian scored 56 goals in 149 appearances for the Red Devils including the mesmerising hat-trick against arch-rivals Liverpool. Recalling those heady days at Old Trafford, Berbatov often gets nostalgic.

“Every goal you score, however ugly or beautiful, is precious for a striker. But now when I replay those moments, the bicycle kick goal against Liverpool comes to the top of my mind,” said Berbatov during an exclusive interaction with TOI as part of the United We Play initiative, which is supported by Apollo Tyres and Manchester United. Obviously the comparison with ‘old’ United and the current one crops up and Berbatov is full of hope.

“There has been a lot of change. Players are changing, coaches are changing all the time. I had the privilege of playing under one coach, Alex Ferguson.

Obviously we haven’t won the Premier League after he left. I feel they will get back to their best very soon. They have the world’s best player in Cristiano Ronaldo and their German coach Ralf Rangnick is widely respected for his work and ideas.

So hopefully, slowly and surely the team will regain it’s place at the top.” Recalling his playing days with Ronaldo, the Bulgarian said, “I am pretty sure one thing will never change with Ronaldo. It is his professionalism and his approach during training and games. Each one of my colleagues in United can testify to the intensity with which he