'HIS WAY’ - Dimitar Berbatov — WWW.EUGENEHORAN.COM

We all know the player but how many actually know the man?

I have just finished reading ‘My Way’ - the refreshingly honest, incredibly inspiring and often hilarious autobiography of Dimitar Berbatov.

I have always enjoyed reading autobiographies. As an actor and as an artist, I study people in great detail. I simply have to, in order to portray them on screen or capture them on canvas. But for many, the character and personality of the Bulgarian genius Dimitar Berbatov remained (quiet literally) a closed book… until now that is.

I’m not here to offer any spoilers. Lets face it, you’d rather hear the great mans story in his own words and not mine - but I will say is this… Here is a player who I have always admired. Every football fan loves to watch a good game of football but when you think of the phrase ‘The Beautiful Game’ - you think of players like Dimitar Berbatov! So few make you watch the game in sheer ‘awe’ but Berba is certainly high up on that elite list! For anyone fortunate enough to see this guy play, especially in the flesh - we have all closely inspected his boots, searching for residue of super glue flowing down the sides in hope of finding the only logical explanation for his ‘unhuman like’ first touch. As a season ticket holder at the Theatre of Dreams since 2007, I have had the great pleasure of watching this man perform simply ridiculous acts on a football field time and time again. Before seeing these acts with my own eyes, if a film director handed me a script about a footballer doing such things I would probably raise my eyebrow and consider the story a little too far fetched! Television is fantastic - we have the benefit of watching the greatest games, the greatest players and their greatest goals from all of the best angles and in super high definition slow motion which captures every millisecond in all of its glory… but NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING can replicate the truly indescribable feeling of experiencing the moment first hand, in the stadium, in the flesh, with the players and that magical feeling of being ‘part’ of something special, something unique and something historical. That, “I was there!”, feeling.

I was in the stadium the day Berba scored his memorable hat-trick against Liverpool and I took a treasured photograph at the very moment he performed his stunning bicycle kick. I was also in the stadium when he scored five against Blackburn and when he defied gravity with the ‘Berba Spin’ against West Ham. It is not often that an assist is the lasting memory over a Cristiano Ronaldo goal but that is exactly what happened that day. A moment of sheer poetry in motion and I will never tire of watching it!

I was also in Wembley Stadium for the 2011 Champions League final when my beloved Manchester United played a phenomenal FC Barcelona side. I was sitting behind the goal in a mixed section. I have never seen this before (or since) and I don’t know of too many games or countries where it would be safe to even consider allowing two sets of opposing fans to mix like this but it was a fantastic experience. I met many wonderful Barca fans and enjoyed hearing their stories about trying to get tickets for the game. One fan told me how his entire family were all huge Barca fans and they were presented with the opportunity to buy a single ticket. A ticket for 3,000 euro! Yes, you read that correctly, THREE THOUSAND EURO! He told me how 15 members of his family - brothers, sisters, parents, cousins and uncles, all agreed to put 200 euro on a table and all of their names into a hat. Whoever’s name was pulled from the hat got the 3,000 euro and bought the ticket! He was the lucky winner! We all want our team to win but when I heard that story and I seen the his face as he told it, I knew what it meant to him and I was genuinely so happy for him personally. Football is beautiful. It brings together people from every walk of life and presents us with moments and memories that touch our hearts in ways that nobody could ever imagine unless your heart belongs to the football universe. You don’t even need to speak the same language. Our passion is its own essential communication tool.

The Champions League final is the ultimate for any player or fan. But I will never forget my disappointment that day. Funnily enough, I’m not talking about the result. In fact, I think the defeat would have hurt a lot more if I was sat at home watching the game on TV. You see, as the game went on and as I realized it was going to be Barca’s day, I made a conscious decision to not do the easy thing and sit there sulking, I continued to watch and if I’m perfectly honest, to enjoy watching this awesome Barcelona team. I thought of my new friend and his family and how they all made at least one member of their family’s dreams come true and I thought about how millions of fans around the world would do or give anything to be in my seat. I looked at the talent on show before me, on both teams and I simply felt blessed to be in attendance. I seen the great Lionel Messi score on the biggest stage of all and his passionate celebration that followed. I was emotional and as strange as it may sound to United fans reading this, it remains one of my best memories of games that I have been fortunate enough to get a ticket for!

But getting back to my disappointment… The news was starting to filter through that Dimitar Berbatov was not only left out of the starting line up, but he wasn’t even on the bench! Sitting in a mixed section, this news came with mixed emotions. You could literally hear and feel the news spreading like wildfire throughout our entire stand behind the goal, almost like a Mexican wave. We heard the whispers and then a Barcelona fan turned towards me with his mobile phone against his ear and with a giant smile he mouthed the words, “NO BERBATOV!” Between my heart sinking in disbelief and the broad smile on the face of my Barca buddy - well, those contrasting reactions speak a thousand words, really! It’s not often Sir Alex Ferguson made the wrong decision in his 26 year reign at Manchester United and I’m certainly not in a position to ever question any of those decisions but I always felt he made a mistake that day. This heartbreaking moment is well documented in Berba’s book (by both men, as Sir Alex provides the foreword) and although, nothing can ever change what happened, the book does offer a better understanding of the situation from both the manager and players point of view.

From his humble beginnings, Dimitar Berbatov is a man who has very admirable values. Family is everything to him. He grew up during a very difficult period in Communist Bulgaria but he has always had a very positive outlook on life and shares many inspiring and hilarious stories from his childhood and from his journey into professional football. His funny side may come as a surprise to many, given the fact he is so quiet and shy but it’s actually a huge part of who he is! Keep an eye out for a couple of my personal favourite anecdotes regarding the diet of a young professional Dimitar Berbatov, shooting more than just towards a goal in Leverkusen and his lovely Elena’s unfortunate experience of exiting a car in London.

The book also offers many heartwarming moments, above all - the innocence of a young girl queuing for her famous fathers autograph.

Berba’s humour is second to none. He is a man of quality words, if not quantity. His hilarious one-liners make you laugh throughout your day as you recall various moments from the book. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and Berba has the perfect balance (as always). Throughout his career, he has always known his value and how good he has always been. Yes, he I believe he was born with a gift but he has worked tirelessly throughout his entire life to master this gift and his self confidence never came before the team. It simply took every team he played for to the next level!

Many of the great players leave behind them a single goal, maybe two, that live long in the memory but Dimitar Berbatov has shared his magic everywhere he has been! I love the memories I have of Berba in a United shirt but among my favourite goals of his also came while wearing the badge of Bayer Leverksen and Monaco and I loved when we seen him return to the Premier League, even if it was with a different club!

A cool, creative genius on the football pitch and an incredibly talented artist off it. It was with great pride that I recently portrayed Berba on canvas and the painting now hangs proudly on the walls of his fantastic charity, ‘The Dimitar Berbatov Foundation’.

I highly recommend this fantastic autobiography. Just expect to lose a little quality sleep from cover to cover because it really is a difficult one to put down! You’ll learn about Berba’s childhood, his dreams and ambitions, who inspired him through life, where his trademark one hand salute celebration came from, how his determination always outweighed his fear, the pride of wearing the Bulgarian shirt and how surgery isn’t always the answer.

If I had to sum Dimitar Berbatov up in one sentence, it would be the great quote by the renowned German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer…