Berb: I Was Screaming At Rooney To Leave It

Dimitar Berbatov has reflected on his brilliant overhead kick against Liverpool.

“I was just in the box and I saw Nani’s cross coming,” said Berbatov. “Wayne Rooney was in front of me and he was going for the ball so I was screaming for him to leave it. I think he heard me – afterwards in the dressing room he said he did and that’s why he left the ball at the last minute. I saw the ball drop and there was no other way to control it except with my thigh and I just tried to do something different. In a situation like this, you don’t have so much time to think. The first thing that came into my mind was to take it on the thigh and try to hit it like this [mimes an overhead kick]. Even when I did it, I didn’t know the ball was in. I was on the ground, turning around, and then I heard the crowd screaming. After that I knew something special had happened.”

He then went on to describe what was a ‘magical’ day for him

“I didn’t know before the Liverpool game that it was such a long time since any United player had scored a hat-trick against them,” he said. “But afterwards I found out that no-one had done it for 64 years so I felt proud. It was a magical day for me. It’s not every day you score three goals against a team like Liverpool. But the most important thing was that we won. If the game had finished 2-2, even if I had scored two goals, it wouldn’t be pleasant. It was a great game and I hope everyone was entertained.”