All top goal scorers will tell you that they have a selfish streak. After all, their job is to put the ball in the net and scoring goals is their currency.
But every now and then strikers will form a partnership that sees favourable returns for both and each will take just as much enjoyment from an assist as they will scoring a goal.
Robbie Keane played with a host of top strikers in during his career in the Premier League, MLS and for the Republic of Ireland, but there’s one man who holds a special place in his heart.
For two seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, the Irishman and Dimitar Berbatov paired up to form one of the league’s mostly deadly strike partnerships, amassing 91 goals between them in all competitions over two years. From the moment they took to the pitch at White Hart Lane their bond was sealed.
Speaking exclusively UCFB as part of the LMA Insight Series, Keane said: “I got him straight away and our understanding on the pitch was incredible. I always knew where he was and vice-versa; we had this understanding where if I went long he went short and it was very difficult for defences to play against us. We had a real connection from the very start.”
During his time in England at Spurs, Manchester United and Fulham, the Bulgarian would be accused of being lazy or a “luxury player”. That’s just how he was though, according to Keane. He played and approached the game a different way, especially off the pitch.
Keane said: “Sometimes he liked to be left alone and sometimes he liked to have a laugh. He wasn’t being rude or arrogant, he was just that kind of character.”
Keane and Berbatov were both sold in the summer of 2008, to Liverpool and United respectively. That season though the pair led Spurs to the League Cup – the club’s last trophy success. But it’s a partnership Spurs fan still look back upon fondly.
The record Irish goal scorer added: “The best partnerships work when there’s no selfishness between you, you don’t care whether you score or he scores. If Berba was standing there for a tap in I’d play it to him and he’d do the same, that’s why it worked.”
