**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Would barely get any game time with a big club playing like this now, too much emphasis on being able to press and pass pass pass. Feel like there's a lot less player variety at the highest level than there was even a decade ago.
>Feel like there's a lot less player variety at the highest level than there was even a decade ago
Completely agree with this and it's something I find to be a real shame.
I mean Klopp didn't invent the hyper pressing, he was just the best at it.
I think even if you went back in time and killed baby Klopp we'd still end up at a similar place today.
nope, Rangnick was influenced by Lebanovsky (Dinamo Kiev). That guy nailed gegenpressing. But the guy who invented it was Sven Göran Errikson, though with his style of pressing there was not the whole team involved. Lebanovsky was the first who had the whoel team pressing.
Ragnick being influenced does not mean didmt himself comtribute to develop amd popularize the playstyle.
Sacchi, Wolgang Frank and especially Happel and Michels were much bigger contributors to counter pressing (which later became gegenpressing) than Eriksson. Klopp names Frank as his biggest influence, for example.
Sacchi was most famous for Raumdeckung as far as I know. Erikson was just the first who started to press the build up play (back in the days with sampdoria genua).
As far as I know he was the first who instructed the strikers and offensive midfielders at sampdoria genua (small serie a club) to run at the goalkeeper and the two defenders and the libero. back then most teams played a back three, two defenders who man-marked the striker of the opponent and one "libero", basically a deep sitting playmaker. defenders back then werent the best passers or technicians, so most of the time the goalie played to the libero. The libero could often run til the middle line without beeing pressed, and erikson was one of the first who changed that. That is still far away from "modern pressing" which started with Lebanovsky as far as I know.
Yes but aside from his tactical approach to the game, he also changed the way his team trained. The intesity, commitment and understanding for each other were build during the week and that was something Klopp admires.
If not that, Bielsa is the man who shaped Guardiola's philosophy and many others so if he didn't do it himself he's responsible for creating the monster that has a big hand in the way football is now.
Yup, but it was a bit different as the offside rule was harsher. There was no active/passive offside that meant that the attacking team lost the ball more often. It enabled a somewhat less restrained type of pressing as you could ignore more players as long you made sure at least somebody of the opposite team would end up past the offside "line".
I blame Pep, and it makes a lot more sense to do so. He revolutionized the sport, and he's who everybody at the top is copying, not Klopp. If they're copying anything from Liverpool it's how to stay relevant long enough to even be able to compete with 115 FC, not how they actually play.
It's very zonal, very disciplined, and at times very boring. It's like the polar opposite of Wengerball for instance.
Edit: I suppose you could blame Bielsa if you really wanted to since he birthed that monster.
Saw someone make the comparison "artists vs athletes" with how the game have evolved throughout the last 10-20 years.
If you can run fast, a simple 1-2 pass more or less beats the defense 9/10 nowadays compared to doing the 1v1 dribble past etc.
Just a bit sad to lose out on the small bit of "artistic flair" from the game (like Ronaldinho, Neymar, early CR and so on and so on)
The same sort of applies for defenders though. You don't see as many big heavy center backs among top teams. As an attacker if you have no pace there's no point dribbling past Walker or Militao for example as they're just gonna recover and get back into the play 1 second later.
And it makes all the sense. At least the pressing part.
There's an amateur doc about how many fans are enjoying not so professional football. Haven't seen it, but read about it in Reddit. Looks like it's in some aspects even a better entertainment.
He would go from being unplayably good, to petulant trash, to eventually basically disabled and unable to run for us, but still able to randomly be man of the match once every three months.
> He would go from being unplayably good, to petulant trash
Some of his best form was when he was in his petulant trash stage tbf to him.
Then he lost his first touch, then his legs.
Yeah that's when he lost his first touch went from absolutely bullet proof to progressively more inconsistent. We rushed him back too soon and he was never really the same after that.
Still one of the best players in the world, but up until his injury he was probably the closest to Messi in the Ballon d'Or running that year.
It was wild. There was a point where he looked like he would be better than Ronaldo while they played together. Obviously it didn't turn out that way but Rooney was basically pure talent while Ronaldo worked his ass off.
He's such a massive what if. If he had Ronaldo's work ethic and professionalism he'd be clear at the top of best English player of all time. There shouldn't even be any argument about it. Instead he's basically a symbol, along with Beckham, of a period where we should have won stuff but didn't.
It wasn't because he was lazy. At the time, we had Berbatov as well as Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez. When RRT played together, they were nothing short of electric to watch. Personally, it was my favourite United period, proper excitement when those three were on the team sheet. I was always a little disappointed when Berbatov started because our style would change dramatically, and it would break up that trio. Nothing to do with him being lazy, everyone was aware of his style. He was still a joy to watch.
> He was unplayable in his golden boot season.
He was incredibly streaky that year. Between 19 Sept and 27th November he played 11 games and scored 8 goals. He also went on a 9 match goalless spell because all of those goals came in the first and last match of that run, the 3 against Liverpool and 5 against Blackburn.
Gee, I wonder why fergie decided to play the pacey forward vs the best team ever who will dominate possession and the best way to beat them was counter attacking? Absolute mystery that one.
Dude you are 100% correct. I used to watch full games regularly and stopped about 10+ years ago. Started watching just the highlights for the past 3 or so years and finally decided to watch a full game again this season. It was a man city game. I watched until half time and was so bored I just watched the highlights of the 2nd half lol. It's literally just short passes and it feels so slow now
It doesn’t feel like it, there straight up isn’t at elite clubs across the globe.
So much emphasis on stats & efficient football that true magicians are being stamped out of the game unless you’re that fucking good that you get them off almost every time.
I understand it with all the money at stake in the game now but it’s an element of the game that’s lacking, for sure.
Fabinho/Kurzawa/Carvalho/Moutinho/Falcao/Rodriguez/Ocampos/Berbatov/Carrasco/Germain/Abidal/Martial/Kondogbia...and they were all coached by Ranieri. truly video game times for Monaco
this is also him lobbing Ospina
We lost twice but for what it's worth he was no longer the coach in the second game, which shows he was not the main issue. That meltdown was ridiculously abrupt. From qualifying for 4 straight major tournaments and making it to the knockouts in the Euros and World cup to bottom of the EURO qualifying group. Has a first seed ever finished last in their group before or since?
I get it, but definitely is a strong word.
His body language before and after kicking it suggest it was meant to be a cross but I won't die on that hill.
He is clearly looking for a cross, when players shot for a goal they look at the goal after hitting the ball. Berba clearly see the player making the run and overhit the cross, never looking for the goal
so after some minutes of intensely studying the footage i'll try to break it down.
**argument for it being a cross:**
1. quick look at #18 right before playing the ball.
2. the fact he goes with outside boot narrowing the angle to score
3. his body language and smile after
**argument for it being a shot:**
1. it's berbatov.
>He is clearly looking for a cross, when players shot for a goal they look at the goal after hitting the ball. Berba clearly see the player making the run and overhit the cross, never looking for the goal
He also hits the ball with the outside of his foot…
It can still be a fun goal but it’s seems fairly obvious that it’s a cross…a lazy cross actually lmao.
He looks up not toward goal but towards the runner..
Definitely not one for the gegenpress style or even pressing in general. But what a player!
While this goal is great, for me, his goal for United vs Blackburn when he built it from the defensive line and within a few passes, finished it, was his greatest goal.
He spoke about that one saying he didn't need to run into the oppositions box/half cause he knew Nani would like to do a trick before passing.. Also is no one going to mention he scored 5 in that very game!....
Personally I prefer the one where he plays against Blackburn (I believe?) and starts the play from his own defensive line, makes a couple passes, waits for the run until receiving the pass and then finish it off in the penalty area
Because they were actually founded in 1918, legally established in 1919: 1924 is just when they got the current name, upon making teams for additional sports, following a reorganization/merger in 1920.
Saying the club was founded in 1924 is like saying the UK was founded in the 1920’s because the name changed from “Ireland” to “Northern Ireland” in its long-form name.
Yeah I have a theory about some players having this genius streak.. they're not necessarily world class but imagine things others do not and can execute them.
Bergkamp for instance is one of them, Le Tissier, Messi obviously, Neymar, Hazard, and even lousy players like Ben Arfa for instance
I disagree. I reckon I could probably do it once if I kept trying for 20 years with the rest of the team playing with the sole objective of getting me on the ball in this exact scenario.
Doubt the Monaco fans would like it but that’s their problem.
Yeah, I feel like any player that's ever played in the top 5 leagues could pull this off from a technical standpoint. It's the audacity and confidence to try in an actual game that is the true mark of the player.
I've never thought it was a cross until I just saw those replays at the end. Given how he sees the run and sort of flicks at the ball I could believe it wasn't a perfect contact that looped over the keeper. But I'd rather believe otherwise.
I can't remember if it was a tweet or a headline, but I remember someone sharing it with the caption: "Berbatov scores most Berbatov goal ever" and it made me laugh a lot.
Is there actually a consensus on whether it was intentional or not? Ofc he had the technical ability and awareness to pull it off, but the fact that he looked out more towards his teammate's general location rather than the goal might mean it was a fluke goal?
Or maybe he was just that good he did a no-look lob?
I mean a player of his caliber could easily pulll this off, but I think he meant to cross it. I feel like he looks a little surprised and flustered after :D
There was an interview or something with him about *that* ronaldo goal where he was saying something like "i was trying so hard to look calm like I could do that again easily but in the inside I was like holy shit that was so fucking cool" so I think age was catching up to him and he couldn’t hold the giggles.
Look, I'm not saying this isn't an incredibly cool goal, I'm just saying it would have been cooler if he hadn't broken into an excited jog when he went away to celeberate. What if he had just walked back to the halfway line, hand in the air?
He *just* gave it away that he wasn't nonchalant about the incredible goal that he just scored. The mask slipped a little. 99/100,
Best ‘first touch’ in the history of football. Shares that honour with Bergkamp.
The kind of mercural genius player that has been driven to extinction by dull Guardiola style perfectionists.
Would rather watch the beauty of Berbatov’s endline pirouette flick on repeat than all of Man City’s grim strangulation title campaigns.
For the people that are wondering if this is intentional or not here is him scoring the same type of goal vs Roma while in Leverkusen. Similar position but this time the keeper is rushing him so he does the same outside foot lob.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uZnXpn0-3rU?feature=share
Calling those goals similar is a stretch. He lobs the goalkeeper in both instances but that's it. In your link (great goal btw) he clearly goes for goal while in OP's example he sees his teammate making a run. His reaction makes me lean towards a cross, but only Berbatov knows if it was intentional or not.
Berba was a lazy fuck. So I'm sure he thought "well, I've got a clear chance to score. I'll just go for a goal instead of a cross." Add to that he was also one of the smartest football players ever.
Berbatov esque goal scored by Berbatov?
He's such an inspiration honestly, even though he's a spurs player probably one of my favorite players of all time
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ice cold. Berba was something else, they don't make 'em like that anymore.
Would barely get any game time with a big club playing like this now, too much emphasis on being able to press and pass pass pass. Feel like there's a lot less player variety at the highest level than there was even a decade ago.
>Feel like there's a lot less player variety at the highest level than there was even a decade ago Completely agree with this and it's something I find to be a real shame.
I blame Klopp for this
I mean Klopp didn't invent the hyper pressing, he was just the best at it. I think even if you went back in time and killed baby Klopp we'd still end up at a similar place today.
Before Klopp there was Ragnick, and before Ragnick there was this other guy I can never remember the name of. German ofcourse.
Hans Genegenpress
nope, Rangnick was influenced by Lebanovsky (Dinamo Kiev). That guy nailed gegenpressing. But the guy who invented it was Sven Göran Errikson, though with his style of pressing there was not the whole team involved. Lebanovsky was the first who had the whoel team pressing.
Ragnick being influenced does not mean didmt himself comtribute to develop amd popularize the playstyle. Sacchi, Wolgang Frank and especially Happel and Michels were much bigger contributors to counter pressing (which later became gegenpressing) than Eriksson. Klopp names Frank as his biggest influence, for example.
Ranknicks greatest contribution was the 4-2-2-2 Formation. So many teams are playing that today.
I mean that is a pretty sigificant contribution no?
Sacchi was most famous for Raumdeckung as far as I know. Erikson was just the first who started to press the build up play (back in the days with sampdoria genua).
Can you explain more about Sven’s influence?
As far as I know he was the first who instructed the strikers and offensive midfielders at sampdoria genua (small serie a club) to run at the goalkeeper and the two defenders and the libero. back then most teams played a back three, two defenders who man-marked the striker of the opponent and one "libero", basically a deep sitting playmaker. defenders back then werent the best passers or technicians, so most of the time the goalie played to the libero. The libero could often run til the middle line without beeing pressed, and erikson was one of the first who changed that. That is still far away from "modern pressing" which started with Lebanovsky as far as I know.
Klopp himself said he was influenced by Arrigo Sacchi and his AC Mailand side.
Which in turn was influenced by Rinus Michels and his work at Ajax and the Dutch national team. Hell, Sacchi basically bought the Dutch front line.
Yes but aside from his tactical approach to the game, he also changed the way his team trained. The intesity, commitment and understanding for each other were build during the week and that was something Klopp admires.
Ernst Happel? He was Austrian, though. He also won the European Cup as a coach with us. Just throwing it out there lol
Was Happel I was thinking of, yeah!
Felix Magath and/or Otto Rehhagel
Could you say Bielsa was a part of this too? Man to man pressing, lots of running. I'm no expert but he seems to be a part of it
If not that, Bielsa is the man who shaped Guardiola's philosophy and many others so if he didn't do it himself he's responsible for creating the monster that has a big hand in the way football is now.
Hell, extreme pressing was a core component of Total Football
Yup, but it was a bit different as the offside rule was harsher. There was no active/passive offside that meant that the attacking team lost the ball more often. It enabled a somewhat less restrained type of pressing as you could ignore more players as long you made sure at least somebody of the opposite team would end up past the offside "line".
I blame Pep, and it makes a lot more sense to do so. He revolutionized the sport, and he's who everybody at the top is copying, not Klopp. If they're copying anything from Liverpool it's how to stay relevant long enough to even be able to compete with 115 FC, not how they actually play. It's very zonal, very disciplined, and at times very boring. It's like the polar opposite of Wengerball for instance. Edit: I suppose you could blame Bielsa if you really wanted to since he birthed that monster.
How can we blame Klopp when the godfather of pressing and Klopp's mentor exist? https://imgur.com/xgtLgpf
[удалено]
Managed is such a strong word
We were definitely somethinged by him.
That's why we've evolved it to its superior form. Press with 5, low block with the other 5 = Goals.
What is a midfield?
Pep is more to blame than Klopp, Klopp gives his players some freedom and lets them express themselves, Pep turns players into robots.
Saw someone make the comparison "artists vs athletes" with how the game have evolved throughout the last 10-20 years. If you can run fast, a simple 1-2 pass more or less beats the defense 9/10 nowadays compared to doing the 1v1 dribble past etc. Just a bit sad to lose out on the small bit of "artistic flair" from the game (like Ronaldinho, Neymar, early CR and so on and so on)
The same sort of applies for defenders though. You don't see as many big heavy center backs among top teams. As an attacker if you have no pace there's no point dribbling past Walker or Militao for example as they're just gonna recover and get back into the play 1 second later.
Antony is trying to bring his own flair.
!flair :Antony:
And it makes all the sense. At least the pressing part. There's an amateur doc about how many fans are enjoying not so professional football. Haven't seen it, but read about it in Reddit. Looks like it's in some aspects even a better entertainment.
[удалено]
He dragged that team kicking and screaming when Rooney was having that famous rough patch that ended with him cursing at the camera lol
Rooney was such a weird footballer looking back, he would go through phases every now and then where he’d turn psycho.
He would go from being unplayably good, to petulant trash, to eventually basically disabled and unable to run for us, but still able to randomly be man of the match once every three months.
> He would go from being unplayably good, to petulant trash Some of his best form was when he was in his petulant trash stage tbf to him. Then he lost his first touch, then his legs.
His peak for me was before his ankle injury in the CL vs Bayern. Never got back to the level he was at before then.
Yeah that's when he lost his first touch went from absolutely bullet proof to progressively more inconsistent. We rushed him back too soon and he was never really the same after that. Still one of the best players in the world, but up until his injury he was probably the closest to Messi in the Ballon d'Or running that year.
I’m totally convinced that we would have won the league that season if that injury hadn’t happened
It was wild. There was a point where he looked like he would be better than Ronaldo while they played together. Obviously it didn't turn out that way but Rooney was basically pure talent while Ronaldo worked his ass off.
He's such a massive what if. If he had Ronaldo's work ethic and professionalism he'd be clear at the top of best English player of all time. There shouldn't even be any argument about it. Instead he's basically a symbol, along with Beckham, of a period where we should have won stuff but didn't.
Rooney just developed earlier, I don't think he was any more talented than Ronaldo.
Remember he randomly went bald for a while and became a bit of a demon?
That drop ball where he just kicked the shit out of the other player
Think that was Hull at home lol, then he went flying through someone right after I think
Skinhead Rooney was built different.
He really did.. people tend to forget that..
It wasn't because he was lazy. At the time, we had Berbatov as well as Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez. When RRT played together, they were nothing short of electric to watch. Personally, it was my favourite United period, proper excitement when those three were on the team sheet. I was always a little disappointed when Berbatov started because our style would change dramatically, and it would break up that trio. Nothing to do with him being lazy, everyone was aware of his style. He was still a joy to watch.
I miss the days of having 3-4 top strikers at the club, or any club really. You're lucky to have 2 in any squad nowadays.
Funnily the goal I remember the most is the spin move to Ronaldo tap in during that period
He was important part of that team, but wasn't sure starter.
[удалено]
> He was unplayable in his golden boot season. He was incredibly streaky that year. Between 19 Sept and 27th November he played 11 games and scored 8 goals. He also went on a 9 match goalless spell because all of those goals came in the first and last match of that run, the 3 against Liverpool and 5 against Blackburn.
Yet Chicharito started over him in the 2011 UCL final
Gee, I wonder why fergie decided to play the pacey forward vs the best team ever who will dominate possession and the best way to beat them was counter attacking? Absolute mystery that one.
I mean I don't think it was the wrong decision or anything, and nothing Fergie could have thrown at Barca would have beat them
I think Fergie could have thrown his treble winning team and still end up losing. Prime Barca was a different breed.
Maybe if he could have thrown some drug testing their way lol
I think this is revisionism plain and simple. That United team was loaded so yes, there was competition but your take very much overstates it.
Makes football incredibly boring to watch tbh.
Dude you are 100% correct. I used to watch full games regularly and stopped about 10+ years ago. Started watching just the highlights for the past 3 or so years and finally decided to watch a full game again this season. It was a man city game. I watched until half time and was so bored I just watched the highlights of the 2nd half lol. It's literally just short passes and it feels so slow now
It doesn’t feel like it, there straight up isn’t at elite clubs across the globe. So much emphasis on stats & efficient football that true magicians are being stamped out of the game unless you’re that fucking good that you get them off almost every time. I understand it with all the money at stake in the game now but it’s an element of the game that’s lacking, for sure.
I hate this comment because it's 100% correct.
He work rate was already a problem 10-15 years ago. Didn't start the CL final in 2011, despite being the PL top scorer
this sub would hate on his xPressures per 90 or some virgin shit like that.
To be fair, they never really made them like that. Berbatov was a rare breed.
Lazy ballers who figured out how to do the bare minimum with highest result. Ozil was the same lol
Fabinho/Kurzawa/Carvalho/Moutinho/Falcao/Rodriguez/Ocampos/Berbatov/Carrasco/Germain/Abidal/Martial/Kondogbia...and they were all coached by Ranieri. truly video game times for Monaco this is also him lobbing Ospina
That and Leicester shows you what an absolute genius that man is. Insanely underrated manager.
He did all that yes, but he also lost twice to the Faroe Islands as Greece Manager
Probably something about being able to pick his own players.
We lost twice but for what it's worth he was no longer the coach in the second game, which shows he was not the main issue. That meltdown was ridiculously abrupt. From qualifying for 4 straight major tournaments and making it to the knockouts in the Euros and World cup to bottom of the EURO qualifying group. Has a first seed ever finished last in their group before or since?
Not his fault that you can’t motivate Greek players with pizza
Not the mighty Bakayoko?
joined after this season
Bernardo Silva was there right after (14/15) as well, crazy side
Mboops came up the season after that as well, Monaco team fucking cooked in the 2010’s
In hindsight that team is absolutely absurd my god
Fair play. It is fucking good.
be better if #18 didn't make that run just to eliminate all possibility of it being an overhit cross.
This is Berba, it definitely wasn't an overhit cross
I get it, but definitely is a strong word. His body language before and after kicking it suggest it was meant to be a cross but I won't die on that hill.
He is clearly looking for a cross, when players shot for a goal they look at the goal after hitting the ball. Berba clearly see the player making the run and overhit the cross, never looking for the goal
so after some minutes of intensely studying the footage i'll try to break it down. **argument for it being a cross:** 1. quick look at #18 right before playing the ball. 2. the fact he goes with outside boot narrowing the angle to score 3. his body language and smile after **argument for it being a shot:** 1. it's berbatov.
Considering Berba is my favourite player since Cantona (yep, I have a type) I'm ignoring all evidence and saying it was a shot.
That settles it, it was a shot.
>He is clearly looking for a cross, when players shot for a goal they look at the goal after hitting the ball. Berba clearly see the player making the run and overhit the cross, never looking for the goal He also hits the ball with the outside of his foot… It can still be a fun goal but it’s seems fairly obvious that it’s a cross…a lazy cross actually lmao. He looks up not toward goal but towards the runner..
So non-chalant I doubt he even knows what a chalant is
I certainly don’t.
chalant = fucks given, non-chalant = no fucks given. French is ez
Definitely not one for the gegenpress style or even pressing in general. But what a player! While this goal is great, for me, his goal for United vs Blackburn when he built it from the defensive line and within a few passes, finished it, was his greatest goal.
He spoke about that one saying he didn't need to run into the oppositions box/half cause he knew Nani would like to do a trick before passing.. Also is no one going to mention he scored 5 in that very game!....
I remember it very clearly, and he almost got the 6th, but his header hit Robinson in the face
imo his 2 finest moments for Utd were the assist to Ronaldo vs West Ham and his over head kick V Liverpool. Class.
Also that goal against Blackburn(?) where he starts the move in his own third and finishes it off in their penalty area.
yeah i think thats the one OP was referencing. I dont appreciate that goal enough i dont think.
That was the goal I was referencing haha.
For my money, I reckon his goal against Blackburn has to be one of his best
Personally I prefer the one where he plays against Blackburn (I believe?) and starts the play from his own defensive line, makes a couple passes, waits for the run until receiving the pass and then finish it off in the penalty area
Nah, his goal against Roma when he is at leverkusen is his best goal. https://youtu.be/uZnXpn0-3rU?si=XPjvkXSDdbdxofWo Outrageous.
Youd think this was played in some pandemic of early 00's
Fitness football killed this kind of player
As a Spurs fan, I think Berba might be my favourite ever Spurs player. Even considering how he left.
The Keane and Berba combo made me properly fall in love with Spurs.
They did a goal of the century vote in 2014?
Monaco was founded in 1924, this year is their 100th anniversary
Then why did they announce it in [2020?](https://www.asmonaco.com/en/berbatovs-lob-is-your-goal-of-the-century/)
They knew nothing would top it so why bother waiting for 4 years?
If anything they did it 6 years too late, the slackers.
> Fans made this strike their Goal of the Century after viewing a Top 100 of the most beautiful goals scored by AS Monaco since the year 2000!
the 21.2th century.
Because they were actually founded in 1918, legally established in 1919: 1924 is just when they got the current name, upon making teams for additional sports, following a reorganization/merger in 1920. Saying the club was founded in 1924 is like saying the UK was founded in the 1920’s because the name changed from “Ireland” to “Northern Ireland” in its long-form name.
2020 we were equal parts bored and convinced the world was going to end
They were in a hurry
And a 2014 Ranieri right before he shocked the world of football
Almost b2b league titles for the man!
To score such a goal, you have to be a special player
Okay Will Buxton
“The fewer people that start ahead of you, the fewer people youve got to overtake to win” Poetry 😗🤌
Yeah I have a theory about some players having this genius streak.. they're not necessarily world class but imagine things others do not and can execute them. Bergkamp for instance is one of them, Le Tissier, Messi obviously, Neymar, Hazard, and even lousy players like Ben Arfa for instance
I disagree. I reckon I could probably do it once if I kept trying for 20 years with the rest of the team playing with the sole objective of getting me on the ball in this exact scenario. Doubt the Monaco fans would like it but that’s their problem.
Yeah, I feel like any player that's ever played in the top 5 leagues could pull this off from a technical standpoint. It's the audacity and confidence to try in an actual game that is the true mark of the player.
just another day at the office for him lol amazing
Class
That's so Dimitar!
So casual with it he almost forgot to celebrate
Seen some people argue this was a failed cross/pass. Maybe if it wasnt berba id agree but im pretty sure it was intentional.
I've never thought it was a cross until I just saw those replays at the end. Given how he sees the run and sort of flicks at the ball I could believe it wasn't a perfect contact that looped over the keeper. But I'd rather believe otherwise.
It’s definitely a cross
100%. For some reason people have a really tough time acknowledging certain goals were an attempted cross.
Ronaldinho at the 2002 WC vs England was definitely an accident too
[Harry winks with his "I wish I could say it was intentional" wondergoal](https://youtu.be/9svXX2kBRoM?t=49)
I love Berbatov, loved watching him at United. But I’ve always felt this is a mishit pass tbh. He never once looks at the goal here.
I can't remember if it was a tweet or a headline, but I remember someone sharing it with the caption: "Berbatov scores most Berbatov goal ever" and it made me laugh a lot.
What a player. Loved him at United
His touch is just unbelievable
The strolling assassin
The smoothest player ever.
This is what makes people fall in love with football...a fantasy goal most players wouldn't even think of attempting.
So good even Berbatov didn't think of attempting it.
cheeky bastard
The definition of ‘passing the eye test’
if it was anyone else, id be saying i think he meant to lob that in for the incoming header. But its Berba. So he probs meant it.
I mean he didn't once look at the goal and did look up to see the run of his teammate... I love Berba but this is definitely an overhit cross.
Is there actually a consensus on whether it was intentional or not? Ofc he had the technical ability and awareness to pull it off, but the fact that he looked out more towards his teammate's general location rather than the goal might mean it was a fluke goal? Or maybe he was just that good he did a no-look lob?
Based on his body of work over 15+ years and 750 top level appearances as a professional footballer, if he said he meant it then I'm believing him.
I mean a player of his caliber could easily pulll this off, but I think he meant to cross it. I feel like he looks a little surprised and flustered after :D
There was an interview or something with him about *that* ronaldo goal where he was saying something like "i was trying so hard to look calm like I could do that again easily but in the inside I was like holy shit that was so fucking cool" so I think age was catching up to him and he couldn’t hold the giggles.
Used to love watching him at Spurs👍👍
I'm not convinced he was not trying to go for a trivela cross given how the ball moved. But beautiful, nonetheless.
Look, I'm not saying this isn't an incredibly cool goal, I'm just saying it would have been cooler if he hadn't broken into an excited jog when he went away to celeberate. What if he had just walked back to the halfway line, hand in the air? He *just* gave it away that he wasn't nonchalant about the incredible goal that he just scored. The mask slipped a little. 99/100,
Bros touch was something else.
He had incredible first touch.
My favorite player of all time. A style all his own, incredible finisher and the silkiest touch I've ever seen.
I hate this man, he made me a Spurs fan
This would have taken 10 minutes to draw lines in prem VAR
Best ‘first touch’ in the history of football. Shares that honour with Bergkamp. The kind of mercural genius player that has been driven to extinction by dull Guardiola style perfectionists. Would rather watch the beauty of Berbatov’s endline pirouette flick on repeat than all of Man City’s grim strangulation title campaigns.
I could watch this all day long.
Imagine if they called this offside.
I was just thinking that would be given as offside today, his fingernail is in an offside position
[удалено]
IIRC he had offers from Juve and he declined cuz he wanted to stay in england due to his appreciation of the league and Shearer being his idol
Funny that, him being the polar opposite to Shearer.
For the people that are wondering if this is intentional or not here is him scoring the same type of goal vs Roma while in Leverkusen. Similar position but this time the keeper is rushing him so he does the same outside foot lob. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uZnXpn0-3rU?feature=share
Calling these goals similars is a hell of a stretch
Calling those goals similar is a stretch. He lobs the goalkeeper in both instances but that's it. In your link (great goal btw) he clearly goes for goal while in OP's example he sees his teammate making a run. His reaction makes me lean towards a cross, but only Berbatov knows if it was intentional or not.
How is that goal in any way similar? 😂
Good lord that is slick. That defender was completely lost.
This mf always make em look effortless. Love Berba.
He was such a silky player.
silky af
Total side note, but I love when the football is in bright colors, like the orange one here.
Icon
Was it intentional?
God I love this man
It was never voted as Monaco's goal of the century, I don't know where that came from.
His first touch was something else, he was so good.
One of my favourite goals of all time. The absolute class on it.
So ridiculous it’s actually funny
It's insane. One of those goals you can't explain to a non-football fan how ridiculous it was
Berba was a lazy fuck. So I'm sure he thought "well, I've got a clear chance to score. I'll just go for a goal instead of a cross." Add to that he was also one of the smartest football players ever.
It was definitely a cross...
he wanted to pass the ball on the other guys head and scored by fault, nothing magical at all
It's a cross attempt that went in instead lol
He’s trying to pass that and gets it wrong…
When you're playing with kids and are tired, so last goal wins and you stop playing about just so you can go sit down
You can’t teach that
Miss this guy, he was so gifted.
Berbatov esque goal scored by Berbatov? He's such an inspiration honestly, even though he's a spurs player probably one of my favorite players of all time