Berbatov only ever wanted to swap shirts with one player

Dimitar Berbatov Manchester United TEAMtalk

Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov says the only player he wanted to swap shirts with during his career was Cristiano Ronaldo.

The two forwards played one season together at Old Trafford before Ronaldo left for Real Madrid in 2009 and Berbatov has revealed his admiration for the Portugal sensation.

Ronaldo is regarded as one of the greatest players in history, scoring a mammoth 626 career goals and winning the Champions League five times.

Asked to reveal his favourite players, Berbatov told MUTV: “The modern one, the one I played against who was number one? It was Cristiano Ronaldo.

“He was phenomenal, something else. He’s on a different planet. I never wanted to swap shirts after matches because I was not this type of player. But the one shirt I wanted and I got was his.

 

 

 

“I remember I was at Bayer Leverkusen and we were playing Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. I wanted Ronaldo’s shirt! But I was too shy to ask him so I got one of my team-mates to ask for it. I didn’t know what to say to him, but he gave it to me.”

READ MORE: Gary Neville sticks boot into Di Maria after wife’s ‘s**thole’ comment

Meanwhile, Patrice Evra has revealed that former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was “99 per cent sure” that he would bring Ronaldo and Gareth Bale to Old Trafford in 2013.

The 2012/13 campaign proved to be Ferguson’s last at United and the Scotsman bowed out by winning his 13th Premier League title, with the Red Devils knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.

Ferguson had a stellar track record of renewing the talent pool at Old Trafford throughout his tenure and speaking to the UTD podcast, Evra described how the manager was close to doing so again in 2013.

Evra claimed that Ferguson said: “My target is I’m 99 per cent sure we will have Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. I just need these two players to win the Champions League again. Ninety-nine per cent.”

READ MORE…