Dimitar Berbatov brings Greek football to a higher level

07 September 2015 / 10:09:52 GRReporter

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Photos: PAOK FC

It has been less than a week since Dimitar Berbatov joined Thessaloniki’s PAOK and all of Greece is at the feet of Bulgaria’s great football star. Former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Thessaloniki International Fair and happened to pass by the pavilion of Thessaloniki club which was enough to obtain a shirt with the number and name of Berbatov on it. Tsipras who is known as a fan of Panathinaikos Athens awkwardly asked what to do with the shirt and said he would give it to former Minister of Finance Efklidis Tsakalotos, who is a PAOK fan. It was enough for the supporters of SYRIZA to start chanting that Tsakalotos (if he is a minister again) should go to the next Eurogroup meeting wearing Berbatov’s jersey.

Tsipras’ accidental passing by of the pavilion of PAOK at Thessaloniki Fair became global news for the name of Dimitar Berbatov alone. The popularity of the famous scorer is growing on Facebook too. His personal page on the social network has more than 2,140 million likes - more than the likes of the four most popular Greek football teams put together. A check shows that his new football club has almost 427,377 likes, Olympiakos Athens 758,609, Panathinaikos 244,888 and ΑΕΚ 175,504 likes.
Dimitar Berbatov is considerably more popular on social networks compared to other stars in the Greek football championship. Panathinaikos midfielder Michael Essien enjoys 717,772 fans and his colleague from Olympiakos Esteban Cambiasso 407,255.

The Greek media are not sparing the superlatives for the Bulgarian star either. "Can a swallow make spring? Yes, it can if it is called Dimitar Berbatov," sports analyst of the newspaper Kathimerini Yiannis Koukoulas writes in a comment. According to him, the decision of Ivan Savidis to attract the Bulgarian star will have positive consequences not only for the Thessaloniki club but will also bring the entire Greek football league to a high level. The major football clubs of Athens are already exploring his game and Olympiakos’ Esteban Cambiasso, Panathinaikos’ Michael Essien and AEK’s Diego Buananote are preparing how to counteract the famous scorer.
Nobody can prevent PAOK fans and the fans of Dimitar Berbatov from dreaming of the championship and successes in international tournaments. We will see in the coming months whether this dream will materialize. One thing is certain, however, exciting moments are in store for us at the stadiums and in front of television screens, the main players in them being the Bulgarian football star and Thessaloniki club.