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Bulgaria's national team and English club striker Dimitar Berbatov will miss his national team's 2008 European qualification match against Slovenia due to a groin injury that led him out of action for two weeks.
The 25-year-old player, who left Bundesliga's Leverkusen Bayer for 10.9 million pounds and moved to Tottenham in the English Premier League this May, played only an hour in Saturday's match against Romania, which ended in a 2-2 draw, suffered a severe groin injury.
"I suffered the injury during the Tottenham match against Sheffield United," the striker admitted. - "I thought it would pass, but I felt excruciating pain during the match against Romania. I still don't know exactly how long I will be injured, but it may be 10 days, or even two weeks," - said D. Berbatov.
In addition, the player will not only miss his national team's match against Slovenia, but will also definitely not be able to help Tottenham in their match against the Premier League leaders Manchester United on September 9.
Berbatov's injury should be a real headache for head coach Hristo Stoichkov, who has already lost four key players.
Defender Igor Tomasic, born in Croatia, cannot play due to administrative problems regarding his Bulgarian citizenship, and the new Wigan striker Svetoslav Todorov injured his leg and will not travel to Slovenia.
The coach invited goalkeeper Stoyan Kolev to the national team, who will take the place of injured goalkeeper Georgi Petkov in the match against Romania.
On Monday, the Bulgarian coach is expected to announce how he will replace the injured players.
Berbatov's injury will leave Stoichkov with limited options in the attack, as only Atletico Madrid's Martin Petrov, Juventus' Valeri Bojinov, and Dalian Shide's Zoran Yankovic will be available.
