& nbsp ; The mysterious disappearance of Manchester United's striker for a month, then appeared negotiating alone to resolve the gang issue & nbsp ; In the quarter-final of the League Cup at home against Tottenham Hotspur, Sir Alex only started two key players - one was Vidic and the other Berbatov. Especially the Bulgarian, due to knee injuries and some family reasons, had continuously missed 5 games for Manchester United. He made his return from injury in this match against his former club, but his performance was barely satisfactory.
Just 3 minutes into the game, Beba beautifully passed through, Obertan received the ball and quickly advanced, sending a pass, Welbeck returned it, Beba followed up and pushed the ball into the penalty area. Unfortunately, Welbeck didn't get it; A few seconds later, Beba accelerated in the midfield, chasing nearly 20 meters to successfully intercept the ball; In the 34th minute, Berbatov crossed from the left flank, Park Ji-sung was unmarked inside the box, but the South Korean star shot wide from 10 yards out. In the 38th minute, Berbatov passed the ball, Gibson combined with Welbeck and took a shot from the edge of the penalty arc, the ball tightly clung to the inner side of the right post and went into the net. Beba's planning helped Manchester United expand their lead. In the 48th minute, Anderson dribbled forward and sent a through ball to Beba, who shot from the edge of the penalty area but hit an opponent player and bounced out for a corner.
However, it was clear that Beba wasn't in his best form. During stoppage time in the first half, Welbeck straight passed to the right side of the penalty area, Obertan immediately crossed, but Berbatov missed the ball at the far post. If he could have reached this point, there was an 80-90% chance of scoring, but unfortunately, Beba did not sacrifice his body balance to attempt a sliding shot. In the 62nd minute, Manchester United made their first substitution, Sir Alex replaced the physically exhausted Bulgarian with Macheda. According to OPTA statistics, Beba attempted 1 shot and created 1 chance in the 62 minutes he was on the field. He completed 37 of 42 passes, made 1 tackle and 1 clearance, with a decent overall performance.
Careful Manchester United fans might have noticed that since the Premier League match on October 31st where Manchester United defeated Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at home, Berbatov had not only never played in the previous 5 Manchester United games, but also hadn't even made it onto the Red Devils' match list. Besides being troubled by knee injuries, according to the British Mirror newspaper, the absence of Manchester United's central striker might be related to a kidnapping case.
It was revealed that 10 days ago, Berbatov's mother in Sofia received a threatening call from a Bulgarian criminal gang. The criminals claimed they would kidnap Berbatov's wife Irina and their newly born daughter Dia if 500,000 pounds were not paid. The 28-year-old Bulgarian international immediately flew back home with his entire family and reached an agreement with the criminals. Afterwards, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson sent a private jet to bring Beba's family back to Manchester.
It is said that because the criminals claimed to have officials from Bulgaria's Ministry of Internal Affairs as their backing, Beba did not notify the police, instead negotiating alone with the gang leader to ensure his family's safety.
A relative of Berbatov said: "Beba was very worried about his family and agreed with his neighbors that if anyone suspicious was spotted, they should immediately notify him. Beba will reward them generously." Despite this, Manchester United has already increased security personnel to ensure the safety of Beba's family. A club spokesperson stated last night: "For safety considerations, we will not comment on this matter at this time."
In fact, this is not the first time the Bulgarian forward has been involved in a kidnapping case.
Ten years ago, when Berbatov was 18, he was making a name for himself at CSKA Sofia. To force Beba to transfer to his team Levski, local gang leader Elef sent people to kidnap Beba after a training session. But on the way to meet the gang boss, the brave Bulgarian secretly called his father Ivan, who eventually resolved the matter. Last month, when Berbatov talked about the incident from ten years ago, he was still visibly shaken, calling it a "terrifying ordeal".
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