Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov (left) celebrates with his team mates after scoring
Dimitar Berbatov set himself up for a few more sly digs from his critics earlier this season by talking quite grandly about his desire to make beautiful art on the football pitch.
But after dashing off this footballing masterpiece, he has ensured there will not be any sniggers now for the striker who sketches caricatures of Manchester United team-mates in his spare time.
A superb hat-trick confirmed his remarkable transformation from languid under-achiever to big-game hero and justified Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to keep faith in the club’s record £30.75million signing.
Berbatov has been steadily chipping back at his doubters with a flurry of goals and some hard-working performances ever since returning for pre-season.
But in the space of 85 minutes on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford he swept away any lingering concerns about his ability to live up to his huge fee.
Now, no matter what he does in the rest of his career, he will be remembered as a legend – as well as the first United player to score a hat-trick against the old foes from down the East Lancs Road since Stan – not Stuart – Pearson in 1946.
Ferguson must have sensed Berbatov was building up to this sort of performance with a prophetic tribute in his programme notes. He wrote: “I concede that at times he seemed to struggle last season, but if you are satisfied about a player’s credentials, you must persevere and trust your judgement, you must have faith, and I think we are being rewarded this season for our confidence in a player who has a touch of genius about him.
“Certainly this is a big season for him and one that could determine the rest of his career, but he has accepted the challenge and responded in a way that has made him one of our major successes.”
Yet it was only a few months ago that Berbatov couldn’t even get into the side for the major games. Now Ferguson admits he simply cannot leave him out. Significantly, when he gave him a rest against Rangers in midweek, United drew a blank.
He spared United another throw-away embarrassment with this treble – two superb headers either side of the sort of a spectacular overhead kick that helped make Denis Law the king of the Stretford End. Including his delicate Community Shield lob against Chelsea, he has scored seven in six games, most of them works of art.
The timing of the goals was perfect. Liverpool looked to have weathered United’s early storm when he got away far too easily from his marker Fernando Torres to head home a Ryan Giggs corner four minutes before the break. His second appeared to have United home and hosed before the hour. He controlled Nani’s cross on his thigh before hooking it over his shoulder and past Pepe Reina via the underside of the crossbar.
But, not for the first time this season, United contrived to throw away a comfortable lead with Torres emerging from his trough of form to earn a penalty and a free-kick with his speed of thought and movement. His run into the penalty area snared Jonny Evans into hooking his legs away with a reckless challenge and gave Steven Gerrard the chance to send Edwin van der Sar the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Then Torres was bundled over by John O’Shea as he tried to get on the end of Raul Meireles’s through pass. Referee Howard Webb gave O’Shea the benefit of the doubt – and a yellow card rather than a red – because he was not sure Torres would have reached the ball.
But Gerrard eased Liverpool’s anger at that decision by exploiting the gap in the defensive wall left by Darren Fletcher and O’Shea to bring the scores level, without the Merseysiders having previously threatened.
After snatching draws from the jaws of victory at Fulham and Everton, Ferguson had warned his side “no more giveaways.”
As Berbatov later said, he spared his team-mates the mother of all rollickings from manager Ferguson with his 84th-minute winner, when he climbed above Jamie Carragher at the far post to head home O’Shea’s cross.
Another picture goal from the artist formerly known as something less praiseworthy.
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