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Saturday 24 January 2009

Berbatov is Spurs Nemesis

Dimitar Berbatov knocked his former club Tottenham out of the FA Cup by scoring the winner at Old Trafford.

Roman Pavlyuchenko's header from Tom Huddlestone's cross put Spurs ahead, but they were pinned back after that. Carlos Tevez was twice denied, first by Ben Alnwick's excellent save and later by the crossbar, before Paul Scholes equalised with a low, deflected shot. Berbatov rifled in after latching on to Michael Carrick's superb lofted pass to seal United's place in the fifth round.

United proved too slick, too strong and too incisive for their visitors, who seemed to surprise themselves when they drew first blood after only five minutes. Pavlyuchenko beat Nemanja Vidic to Tom Huddlestone's cross and glanced a header into the far corner to give Spurs a dream start. Yet after all their intricacy, it was an ugly goal that brought United level, when Scholes' low shot took a deflection off Huddlestone to leave Alnwick stranded.

But the strike that put United was top quality - and a double blow for Spurs as it involved two of their former players. Carrick picked out Berbatov with a sublime pass and the Bulgarian took one touch to control before placing the ball into the bottom corner. (BBC Sport)