The highly-scrutinized Dimitar Berbatov was Manchester United's star performer in their match of the Tour 2010, but will that change the way that some of the Old Trafford faithful view his contribution?
Berbatov scored the first goal against Glasgow Celtic with a wonderfully taken left-footed strike, but his real contribution came when the young United attack ran out of ideas, and he provided two world-class assists to Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley to seal the 3-1 win.
On top of his goal and two assist performance, Berbatov continuously popped up in different areas of the field in attempts to help the inexperienced midfield, but he also very vocal and let them hear it if he did not get the service he expects, which is something that has been missing from his game since his arrival.
Against
Since arriving from Tottenham Hotspur in the eleventh hour in the summer transfer window in 2008, Berbatov has had a bulls-eye on his back because the of the enormous price tag that was paid for him by Sir Alex Ferguson.
The price tag that Sir Alex ultimaltely was forced to pay for the silky forward is a reported £32million, which is the largest transfer fee that has ever been dished out for a player to come to Old Trafford, so the pressure of performance has always been there.
One thing that people fail to realize is that the only reason why that price tag was that high is because big-spending Manchester City and Chelsea offered Spurs that amount for his services, but there was only one club for Berbatov and that was United.
No matter if he wins man of the match honors or not, he is still sometimes viewed as not having contributed enough to the United cause, which is absurd to say the least.
Berbatov scored quite freely at Tottenham, and was the only star of their show, so it was always going to be hard for him to come into a team full of stars at United.
During that time, he was able to strike a very nice partnership with Robbie Keane in the Spurs attack, however, he has not had the same fruitful understanding with Wayne Rooney at United, which has led to even more criticism for the Bulgarian.
Rooney is a player that has many talents and attributes that are matched by few, however, that can also be a downfall for a player as well. Sometimes those types of players do not link up well with others, which is definitely the case with Berbatov.
Unlike most center forwards, Rooney is a master of all trades, which means that he can play any position on the field with real conviction and determination, but again, that does not mean that he will always combine well with others.
Stats
Despite contrary belief, Berbatov has barely fallen off in his league goals-to-games ratio from his time at White Hart Lane.
He scored 27 times in 70 Barclays Premier League matches for Spurs (39%), which is only six more times than he has at Old Trafford in as many fewer games (33%).
Looking at those statistics, one must also factor in that he has made 11 of his 53 appearances from the United bench, and let's be honest - Berbatov is no Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
However, if you look at his goals-to-games ratio since his senior career began, his percentage has fallen off dramatically since his time at CSKA Sophia (50%) and then at Bayern Leverkusen (44%).
When looking at his over total of goals, critics must compare apples-to-apples, because during his time at Totttenham he only played in the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League), which is entirely different than the UEFA Champions League.
At Leverkusen, he played in the Champions League and had basically the goals-to-game ratio as he has at United - 30% and 27%, respectively.
Also at Spurs, he was able 10 more cup competitions (FA Cup and Carling Cup) and scored six more goals. At United, those competitions are a chance for the young fringe players' chance to shine in a first-team atmosphere.
Dimitar Berbatov will always get flack for any performance - good or bad - that he puts in, which is unfair to a player, because afterall, he did turn down a heck of a lot more money to play for Manchester United in attempts to win silverware.
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