Reporter Xu Danlei reported that Berbatov retired, leaving the football world with some unsolved puzzles: Who is more narcissistic, he and Ronaldo? Is he really lazy on the field? And, how many times has he and his family been kidnapped?
Bulgarians say they think he smokes is the biggest misconception about him in the world. "I've never really smoked in my life," he said in an interview with Britain's 442 magazine last year, "and my friends smoked in front of me and were criticized by me." I pretended to smoke just because I thought it looked cool to hold it, that's all. I don't know why people just conclude from the pictures of me holding a cigarette that I smoke! ”
Anyone has a superficial and intrinsic difference, especially stars who are often in the spotlight. But Beba even posed for smoking, and it's certain that he's very narcissistic. In high-grade interviews, the Bulgarian would skillfully and gracefully comb his hair back in front of reporters, picking up the appearance of Hollywood movie star Andy Garcia, confident, dashing, and he also knew how he would be presented in front of the camera.
A mixture of Garcia and De Niro
"Although I look like I'm only 25 years old!" He was 37 years old when he said this. Narcissism can produce self-confidence. "Penalties should be played by the striker!" He was talking about Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Butt who didn't have time to run back to the goal after scoring a penalty and was hit by a long-range shot by Schalke, who had restarted the ball.
If he hadn't played football, Baba might have become a star, acting in a movie or going on TV, but by chance. The Bulgarian does look like Andy Garcia in The Godfather. He also admitted to filming videos mimicking "The Godfather" clips. "The Godfather" is his favorite film, through which he once learned English.
However, Baba's favorite movie star is Robert De Niro, who also starred in "The Godfather". Unlike Garcia, who always wears a suit and shoes, De Niro in Taxi Driver has a Mohican head and is full of anger that has been suppressed by social injustice. So cut the beba open, is it the gentleman's Garciado, or the working-class version of De Nirodo? Or are the two already mixed?
Beba himself couldn't tell the difference.
Like one of his favorite strikers, Alain Shearer, is synonymous with efficiency, an unpretentious goalscoring machine. At Euro 1996, Beba fell in love with Shearer and then followed him from Blackburn to Newcastle. The family bought him a Magpie No. 9 jersey for his teenage years old, which he would wear to sleep. Beba loved Shearer's ability to score from all positions and remembered his celebratory move: raising his right arm amid cheers from the crowd.
It's just that based on the style of later Bulgarians playing football, it's hard to find out that he once idolized Shearer. Because Beba also likes Van Basten. If Shearer is a big trick, Basten is a clever one. "He's technically savvy and his movements are elegant." Beba had imitated Basten's movements. Later, a videotape recording all of Basten's goals was collected. The Dutch striker had no choice but to retire due to injury, saying goodbye in San Siro, "he cried himself, the fans on the scene also cried, and I also shed tears in front of the TV".
Ferguson: He lacks self-confidence
A conclusive kidnapping took place against one of Bulgaria's most promising young players at the time, and the victim was Beba, who was only 18 years old at the time. Recalling that unhappiness many years ago, Beba felt "confused and scared." It was late at night, and Beba, who was playing for CSKA Sofia, was taken to a place he didn't know, only because another Bulgarian team wanted to force him to join in this way.
Beba believed that he was kidnapped by the "most powerful mafia" in Bulgaria at the time. In the midst of the chaos, he heard people talking nonsense to him, and the phone kept ringing. He gradually sorted out the veins, but there was only a voice in his heart calling for help. Thankfully, he was finally able to safely regain his freedom, "but it really scared me. ”
Later kidnappings related to Beba were all because he was more famous and earned more. In late 2009, Beba, who was already one of the top traffic in football, took his wife and daughter back from England to visit his family in Sofia, and was told by his mother that the gang threatened the family: if Beba did not pay 500,000 pounds of protection, his wife and daughter would be kidnapped. The gangs also intimidated Baba into calling the police because the agencies also had their eyeliner.
The then 28-year-old captain of the Bulgarian national team was horrified, immediately agreed to the kidnappers' request, and fled with his family as soon as he paid the money. Ferguson hired a private jet to Bulgaria to bring the Bebas back to England.
Two years after this incident, another "misfortune" entangled Beba, and it was another kidnapping, and the target was replaced by Beba's mother who remained in the country. But soon after, Beba's agent claimed that this was completely false. It is the media that hate no news, including Bulgarian newspapers, listening to the wind is rain.
At the turn of the century, Bulgaria was not only in turmoil in football. When Beba was born and raised, life was even more difficult. Although born into a sports family, several of the elders are international footballers or national players, the first goal that Beba pursued when he was a child was still to fill his stomach, and his parents had to line up every morning at 6 o'clock to buy bread. The second goal of Beba's pursuit is football, playing as soon as he is full. Because he couldn't afford football, he could only play basketball. Years later, Baba lifted heavily on the court and stopped the ball as a work of art, which may have something to do with this.
It is not easy to eat when you are young, and when you have no water to drink, you can only drink salty kimchi soup! Beba played tricks, including taking accounts of the old players after eating at the restaurant, but always did not pay back. Childhood memories can be very profound, including suffering, and affect later personality and growth. Ferguson said in his autobiography that Baba ate a lot at Manchester United and always worked hard in restaurants, "just like Nikki Bart! I can't finish eating and packing"!
So Beba in the Premier League may just look flashy. Becoming Andy Garcia may just be a protective psychological mechanism against his childhood. In his autobiography, Ferguson said, "Berbatov was unexpectedly lacking in self-confidence. He never had the domineering spirit of Cantona or Andy Cole, or the confidence of Sheringham. Hernandez also possessed strong self-confidence, radiant, intelligent and lively. Berbatov is not a lack of confidence in his abilities, his confusion is based on the way he plays. ”
Gentle to football as a lady
According to his hard growth, Beba's personality should be more like Robert De Niro on the screen, tenacious and unyielding, ready to box at any time with the world. However, the overflow of football talent has broken the class he should have belonged to, and after landing in the Premier League, he has made a lot of money, and even his transfer to Manchester United is a grand event.
In the summer of 2008, Tottenham's Beba threatened to transfer to Manchester United. Manchester City joined the battle group and offered a higher bid than Manchester United, and Levi was impressed. Ferguson took the Bulgarians to Manchester on a chartered flight, while he drove to the airport, picked him up at Carrington, and negotiated personal terms with him. Recalling the transfer, Ferguson said "the whole experience was painful over hip replacement surgery."
Spurs were unable to find anyone when they tried to contact Beba, who was already on a plane to Manchester. United's final offer was over £30 million, and Levy accepted reality. Before the Red Devils set a record for the highest signing in franchise history, the agent told Baba that Manchester City wanted him too; there was more to offer. Beba said: Get out of the way, we are going to Manchester United! At the time, United were the new Champions League winners, while Beba said he was "a horse with a blindfold but still knows where to go".
In the first season of Manchester United, Beba won the Premier League Golden Boot and helped the team achieve consecutive championships. Similar to the essence of the stadium for Liverpool's back-hook and hat-trick, it embellished his four years of Red Devils time, and there are also cheerful memories off the court. Cristiano is always the first to go to the training ground and go to the gym after training. Rooney? Train like crazy, help the newcomers integrate into the group, and prepare for becoming a captain. That Baba or C Luo looking in the mirror more? "There were a lot of mirrors in the dressing room! I, Ronaldo, Leo, and Evra all love to look in the mirror, and it's a great time. ”
Baba's chicness on the pitch is sometimes compared to Cantona, where both men play with their collars upright. A text once described Beba this way, "When he was ready to start, the stadium was like Inception, everyone was running, but the speed was as slow as not moving. Almost frozen in time and space, he strolled forward, carefully observing every detail, as if he were a king, as if he had not yet touched the ball and had seen through everything. And when he catches the ball, the world starts to run fast."
Bulgarians always want to "slow down the game", a style that is contrary to Manchester United, who wants to play fast; when the team is behind, he walks, a habit that is more difficult to tolerate in the long term. As a result, Beba's happy hour at the Dream Theater did not last long. In the 2011 Champions League final, he wasn't even brought to Wembley by Ferguson.
In an interview with Espn a few years ago, Beba interpreted his own characteristics: "I don't put myself forward, I like to take the ball, I like to carry the ball freely on the field. If everyone is on the left side and I'm on the right side, then it's good to believe in me, to believe that I've seen opportunities that others can't see. ”
In the treatment of football, Beba did what he called "as gentle as a gentleman to a lady". He was more dismissive of the claim that he often ran as little as the goalkeeper, saying he would show critics his running stats that he was always in the top 5 of the team. 'Some players always like to show off their stats, but sometimes when the ball isn't nearby, they're still running hard."
"Some people just like to make compliments after a bad game." Beba doesn't like players who fake runs, and he doesn't like coaches who shout on the sidelines and pretend to work hard. "In fact, no one in the game could hear what someone was saying on the sidelines."
So, what will be the future of Beba, who announced that he was already studying coaching before retiring, if he actually coaches? Is it that no matter whether the team is leading or lagging behind, it does not have the heart and lungs to tilt like Garcia, or is it angry like De Niro, and it is guaranteed to sit in the coach's seat? Or do you really light the cigarette in your mouth?!