- Man United players went out drinking
- Flew to Club World Cup the following day
- Berbatov was sick and didn’t play
Rooney has spilled the beans on the reason why Berbatov failed to play a minute during United’s successful Club World Cup campaign in 2008. The Red Devils played out a 0-0 draw with Tottenham and were flying to Japan the following morning. Rooney revealed the club’s fitness coach told them to stay up all night and sleep on the plane to help their body clocks adjust for when they arrive. But the United boys took the opportunity to go out boozing in London, with disastrous consequences for the Bulgaria international, who didn’t sleep on the flight and was sick when he landed in Japan.
Berbatov failed to make the squad for their opening match against Gamba Osaka and was an unused substitute in the final against LDU Quito – which United won, courtesy of a goal from Rooney. Rooney also finished as top scorer in the tournament with three goals.
Rooney said on his BBC podcast: “It was very difficult before we went to Japan and we played Tottenham away in the Premier League and we were flying the next morning from London. So the fitness coach came up with this idea if we all stay awake through the night and then sleep on the flight it’ll be better for our body clock. So we ended up having a night out in London to stay awake. It’s difficult to sleep on planes at the best of times and Berbatov got off, was sick and missed the whole Club World Cup tournament. But we still managed to win it, which was great.”
The victorious campaign in Japan was United’s second appearance at the Club World Cup, the previous being back in 2000, which caused huge controversy. United declined to defend the FA Cup trophy they’d won in 1999 to free up space in the calendar to play at the international club championship in Brazil. It was ultimately a bad decision as United finished third in their group and went home early.
