Manchester United made sure Celtic's poor away form in the Champions League continued with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Old Trafford. Even allowing for the fact that Berbatov's first two goals looked offside there was no doubt United deserved their 50th home win in the competition and share top spot in Group E on seven points with Villarreal and have yet to concede a goal in the competition.
The English champions dominated for long periods but it was there first shot on target after 30 minutes which opened the scoring.
Television replays showed Dimitar Berbatov clearly offside as he flicked the ball past Celtic keeper Boruc; this was The Reds 250th Champions League goal.
Then on the stroke of half time Darren Fletcher's glaring miss failed to give United the two goal cushion their display had warranted.
Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo and Nani all had chances to embarrass the visitors in that first period.
Yet for all Celtic being pushed back for long periods they had two chances to take a shock lead.
Aidan McGeady's early effort was saved at full stretch by Edwin Van der Sar then the United keeper palmed over Gary Caldwell's shot.
But the Belgium linesman again made the wrong call for offside when he allowed Berbatov to net a second in the 50th minute.
Ronaldo's fierce free kick had been parried by Boruc into the path of the former Tottenham striker who stroked the ball home.
The official made it three in row for wrong decisions when he disallowed Rooney's strike when he was onside.
But the England striker was not to be denied and with Celtic looking despondent it was no surprise when the third goal arrived after 75 minutes.
United broke quickly and Rooney drove home from 20 yards to score for the seventh consecutive game and this time there was no question over its validity.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn't be drawn on the Berbatov goals, simply saying, "It makes a change to get the breaks; in all honesty though I haven't seen the replays."
"Overall though it was a good performance and for ninety minutes we kept good momentum.
The Scottish tactician praised his summer signing Berbatov, telling ITV 1.
"He was fantastic, a marvelous performance again. He's bringing that composure to the final third of the field.
"His decision making and passing are excellent."