Dimitar Berbatov picks Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in his #One2Eleven
By Jack Wilkinson
Last Updated: 20/05/16 9:13pm
Former Manchester United and Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov picked his #One2Eleven on The Fantasy Football Club.
Berbatov, who opts for a 4-4-2 formation, rose to prominence in the Bayer Leverkusen side that reached the 2002 Champions League final, before moving to White Hart Lane in 2006.
After a dazzling two-year spell in north London, the former Bulgaria captain moved to Old Trafford in a then club record £30.75million deal.
He won two Premier League titles, the League Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in four seasons at the Theatre of Dreams before going on to play for Fulham, Monaco and current club PAOK.
But who features in his #One2Eleven? Read on to find out...
GOALKEEPER - Edwin van der Sar
Obviously, it has to be Van der Sar. He was always talking and socialising with people. We used to sit together on the bus and he was always trying to make me speak but, you know me, I don't like to speak much! When the game would come he was always fully concentrated, he was unbelievable in commanding the defence. The best goalkeeper I've ever played with.
RIGHT-BACK - Gary Neville
He was the same as Van der Sar, he was always talking on the pitch. I will always remember the way he trained, it was unbelievable - a full professional.
I can remember him telling me that he could see young players coming through and that he had to train every day like he was 20 because they were catching up to him. He was right! He was a great professional and overall a great person. His statistics speak for themselves, he was great.
CENTRE-BACK - Nemanja Vidic
Vida was going through walls, he would literally go through walls for the fans and his team-mates. He had a face like a war hero! He was Serbian and I can speak the language so he was the closest person to me in the dressing room.
CENTRE-BACK - Rio Ferdinand
On the other side we had Rio. I have never seen a defender who tried not to tackle as much as he did, he was always trying to anticipate the game and read the opponents. This is what I like in a player. Even though he was a defender he tried that every game. He was always there and he knew where the ball was going to go, that was intelligence, pure and simple.
Ledley King, who I played with at Tottenham, is on a par with them but, unfortunately, he was prone to injuries a lot which cut his career short. Obviously I played with Rio and Vida and, for me, they struck up a great partnership - it was unbelievable.
LEFT-BACK - Patrice Evra
My friend, my brother from another mother! Somehow he was always the first guy to congratulate me when I scored a goal. He was always so sincere when he celebrated my goals, I could see it in his face and that made me happy. Even for his small size he was always jumping and fighting big guys and playing against him was always difficult. He was the joker of the dressing room, he was always pranking people and putting the music up.
RIGHT MIDFIELD - Cristiano Ronaldo
I played with him for one year and the thing that struck me was that, while he obviously had talent, he worked harder than everybody else. He was unbelievable. When I have the chance to play with young players they obviously like Ronaldo and try to imitate him. I tell them that his success didn't happen in an instant, he was in training first, leaving last, swimming and going to the gym. He was doing all he could to become the best. He wanted to be No 1 and he did.
CENTRE MIDFIELD - Stiliyan Petrov
He could run all day, all night. I could go to bed and he would still be running! He doesn't know how to surrender so he was always fighting at Aston Villa and in the international team when we played together. It was great for me when I played against him because I liked to play against the best and, for me, he was one of the best. He deserved to play for bigger teams, so he is in my central midfield zone.
CENTRE MIDFIELD - Paul Scholes
I like him because he was like me, he didn't speak much. When we finished training he was already in the car going home. But everybody respected him because as soon as he stepped on the pitch he was destroying people. The passing, shooting and vision he had was unbelievable. That is why he is one of the greatest midfielders of all time.
LEFT MIDFIELD - Ryan Giggs
Like Paul Scholes he was a very quiet guy but I like people and players who lead by example and don't speak much. He was calm, he knew his quality and would go out on the pitch and he was doing his job. Because of him I started doing yoga, I am not the stretchiest guy! Sometimes you need to observe people. If you want to learn you need to learn from the best. After training he would do yoga and you could see his body at 40 was fitter than mine. I started doing the things he was doing and it has helped me play longer.
STRIKER - Wayne Rooney
On the training ground he would work hard and it's still the same on the pitch. He runs around tirelessly like he's 20 and I admire that. We had a decent partnership as well. There are people in some teams that don't speak to each other off the pitch but when they are on it they understand each other so well that you think they sleep together. Sometimes you don't need to talk to someone, good players understand each other.
STRIKER - Robbie Keane
I struck a great partnership with Robbie Keane at Tottenham. We didn't speak much off the pitch, although that was down to me not liking to speak much. But he knew this and he was like: 'Berba don't worry, I know you'. On the pitch he was great and we scored a lot of goals together. I liked him as a person. He was tireless, running around screaming, supporting the team-mates, trying to make everybody feel good. I never saw him get offended by anything, he was always positive and a great, great guy.