Not winning Champions League is biggest regret but Manchester United lost twice to all-time great Barca team, says Dimitar Berbatov

Manchester: In his four seasons at Manchester United, Dimitar Berbatov won two Premier League titles, Golden Boot, and helped the team reach two Champions League finals, both of which they lost to Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. The Bulgarian striker returned to the Theatre of Dreams this week for five-a-side games against India’s winners of the ‘Road to Old Trafford’ initiative and a legends team that included Renedy Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Robin Singh and Tanvie Hans. At the end of the event, Berbatov spoke exclusively with TOI about his career, big regret and, of course, United’s past and present. Excerpts…
Now that United are back in the Champions League, and they’ve also won a trophy, how would you rate the season?
I think it was a good season, in a sense that we won a trophy and qualified for the Champions League. That is in a way a success. Of course, we all wanted to win the FA Cup, but that did not happen. It’s a good season. For the next one, United should be challenging for the Premier League title. (Manager) Erik ten Hag is now settled, knows exactly what we need, and I hope he will get it. Next season, they need to go and challenge for the top spot.
What does United need to do to get to the top?
Obviously, they need a striker, a centre forward who will give you 20-25 goals.
Do you have anyone in mind?
Victor Osimhen. He had a great season with Napoli. Harry Kane is always there, but I think he will maybe stay at (Tottenham) Spurs. So, fine. A goalscorer is needed. It's not about the name, it’s what ten Hag wants, exactly what type of player he wants and someone who gets used to the teammates. After striker, maybe a central defender, in my opinion.
United looked impressive at Old Trafford, matching a club record 27 home wins in a single season. What makes them such a dangerous side here?
The stadium, the atmosphere, fans. When teams come here, Old Trafford is intimidating. It’s good to have points when you play at home, but you need points away from home too. In my opinion, United need to improve when going away.
You won two Premier League titles with United and made it to two Champions League finals in three years. Is there a sense of regret on losing those two finals?
Of course, there's regret, and I did not play one final. The regret is there. We were unlucky because we played both times against Barcelona in their prime. I think we deserved to be in the final, but in the final, Barca were probably better than us. (Lionel) Messi, in his prime, (Andres) Iniesta, Xavi, all these players. We could not win. I could not win the Champions League and that's my biggest regret in football.
Is that Barcelona side the greatest you’ve seen?
Yes, yes, they were the greatest. Barcelona in their prime with Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and all the players around them were unbelievable. When they took the ball and started moving the ball in three angles, pass-move, pass-move, they always found spaces and knew how to hurt you.
When you left Tottenham Hotspur, you had the chance to either join United or Manchester City. Why did you opt for United?
The badge, history, players, managers, trophies, stadium, fans, everything was a big package. For me, coming from a small country Bulgaria, this was my chance to reach the top of the mountain, and United was my top. When they said, we want you, I was like "oh my God," but I knew that I deserved since I worked very hard throughout my career. First in Bulgaria, then Germany with (Bayer) Lerverkusen and then Spurs. There was natural progression for myself and I was very proud of it.
United paid a club record fee of more than £30m on deadline day to sign you from Spurs. Now, records seem to be broken with really huge fees in the transfer market…
I was just thinking about it the other day. They paid 30 million (pounds) for me and now they are spending 100m (regularly). This is how football works. It's changing, it’s business. To me, sometimes, the money that is being spent on footballers is ridiculous, but as I said, it's how the market values the player. In my time, 30 million was a big number. I was asking myself, "how did they pay so much?" But now some of the spending on some other players is 100 million.
(The writer is in Manchester on an invitation from Apollo Tyres)