Patrik Berger

 

Patrik Berger
Personal information
Full name	Patrik Berger
Date of birth	November 10 1973 (1973--) (age 33)
Place of birth	Prague, Czech Republic
Height	ft  in ( m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Aston Villa
Youth clubs
1989-1991	Sparta Prague
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991-1995 1995-1996 1996-2003 2003-2005 2005- 2006-2007	Slavia Prague Borussia Dortmund Liverpool Portsmouth Aston Villa → Stoke City (loan)	089 (24) 025 0(4) 148 (28) 052 0(8) 021 0(2) 007 0(0)
National team2
1993 1994-2001	Czechoslovakia Czech Republic	02 (0) 042 (18)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:46, 16 May 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 26 July 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Patrik Berger (born 10 November, 1973 in Prague) is a Czech football player. He is currently a midfielder for English Premiership team Aston Villa, having signed from Portsmouth on a free transfer on 1 June 2005. His uncle is the Czech footballer Jan Berger.

Club career

Early career

Patrik Berger began his career as junior with Sparta Prague in 1989 then he moved to the city rival Slavia Prague in 1991/92, and moved to Borussia Dortmund in 1995/96, with whom he won the Bundesliga title that year. After impressive displays for the Czech Republic side in Euro 96 he was signed by Liverpool for £3.25 million.

Liverpool

Berger was impressive when he played for Liverpool, but over the next few years struggled with injuries, meaning he was in and out of the side. He kept his place when fit in both his club and national side, but only made one appearance in Euro 2000, having been suspended after being sent off in a qualifier against the Faroe Islands.

Berger picked up a serious knee injury during the 2000-01 season and had to fly to the United States for an operation by the renowned Dr. Richard Steadman. He made a return at the end of March in time to pick up a UEFA Cup winners' medal at the end of the campaign. His season was again disrupted by injuries in the 2001/02 campaign, but he played a far bigger part than in the previous campaign.

However, recurring injuries meant in the 2002-03 season Berger rarely featured, playing in just four games. At the end of that season his contract expired and he moved on a free transfer to Portsmouth^[1], having played 196 games for Liverpool, scoring 35 goals in the process.

Portsmouth

Berger made his first appearance for Portsmouth on the opening day of the club's debut Premiership season in a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa, scoring the second goal. However, in February 2004, he was forced to undergo an operation upon his knee forcing him to miss the rest of the season. His performances at the start of the 2004-2005 season indicated that a return to his best form might be on the cards.

However he was released by Portsmouth in June 2005 and joined Aston Villa on a 2 year deal.

Aston Villa

Berger has been hampered by injury during his Villa career, only making 9 league appearances. In November 2006 he was loaned to Stoke City in order to gain fitness^[2], with some reports suggesting that the player had fallen out with manager Martin O'Neill over playing in the reserve side. Since his loan spell, Berger has had a good spell of fitness and has begun to show flashes of what he is capable of, regularly being a huge influence on the pitch. On April 7, Berger scored his first goal in two years against Blackburn Rovers in a 2-1 victory, with fans and pundits alike praising his performance. Berger scored again on May 5 in the penultimate game of the season against Sheffield United.

On May 28 2007, Berger agreed to sign a one-year contract extension with Aston Villa. ^[3].

Honours As Player

Borussia Dortmund

• German Super Cup (1995)
• German League Champions (Bundesliga) (1995-96)

Liverpool

• F.A Cup (2001)
• League Cup (2001, 2003)
• Uefa Cup (2001)
• Charity Shield (2001)
• European Super Cup (2001)

Reference

External links

• Patrik Berger career stats at Soccerbase

Aston Villa F.C. – current squad
1 Sørensen • 3 Bouma • 4 Mellberg • 5 Laursen • 6 Barry • 7 Young • 8 Moore • 9 Harewood • 10 Carew • 11 Agbonlahor • 13 Taylor • 15 Davies • 16 Knight • 19 Petrov • 20 Reo-Coker • 22 Carson • 23 Berger • 26 Gardner • 27 Osbourne • 28 Maloney • 29 O'Halloran • –– Salifou • Manager: O'Neill

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