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Milan Baros was capable of the odd flash of genius during his Liverpool
career, but the fact that those flashes were too few and far between
probably explains why he didn't enjoy a longer stay at the club. Signed
for £3.4m from Czech side Banik Ostrava as a raw 20-year-old on
Christmas Eve 2001, Baros was given time to settle into life in England
by Gerard Houllier, who gave the forward his debut in a goalless
Champions League draw in Barcelona's Nou Camp in March 2002, replacing
Emile Heskey with sixteen minutes left. That was Milan's only appearance
that season, but he was to burst onto the scene in the following
campaign. Starting up front at Bolton, he struck twice on his
Premiership debut in September in a 3-2 win. Wearing the distinctive
number 5 - which was always sported by central defenders in more
traditional times - on his back, and looking leaner and fitter than six
months previously, Baros went on to find the net against both West Brom
and Swiss side Basel, making it four goals from his first three starts.
Milan picked up his first trophy in England in March 2003, appearing as a
61st minute sub for Emile Heskey, before being replaced himself in the
89th minute by Vladimir Smicer, as the Reds beat Manchester United 2-0
in Cardiff to win the League Cup. With a trophy in the bag, Liverpool
set about trying to achieve Champions League qualification, but despite
impressive wins like a 6-0 success at West Brom; Baros scoring two, Owen
four; Liverpool missed out on the top four after a final day defeat at
Chelsea. The summer of 2003 saw Liverpool add to their attacking ranks
with the purchases of Harry Kewell and young French duo Anthony Le
Tallec and Florent Sinama-Pongolle, but Houllier would be without his
Czech striker for the majority of the campaign, Baros breaking an ankle
at Blackburn in September. Liverpool would achieve their 'minimum
acceptable target' of Champions League qualification that season, but
come May Houllier was sacked.
Back to full fitness, Milan would have
impressed new manager Rafa Benitez in that summer's European
Championships, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with five goals.
Back at Anfield, the sales of Owen, Heskey and Diouf meant that Baros
now had the chance to strike up a partnership with new £14m French
forward Djibril Cisse. Both scored as Liverpool kicked off their
Champions League campaign with a 2-0 win over Monaco at Anfield, but the
Reds were rocked by Cisse's horrific broken leg, sustained at Blackburn
in October. The injury meant that Baros was now Benitez's front line
striker, and the Czech scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Crystal
Palace in November. However, despite scoring eleven goals in the first
half of the campaign, Milan would net just two in the second, as Benitez
brought in Fernando Morientes to ease the goalscoring burden.
With
Morientes cup-tied for the Champions League, Baros started all six of
the knockout games en route to the Final, scoring against Bayer
Leverkusen and being heavily involved in Luis Garcia's infamous
semi-final winner against Chelsea. Milan started the Final in Istanbul
knowing his time at Liverpool was coming to an end, but to his credit,
his tireless running and closing down of the AC Milan defenders was one
of the reasons that Liverpool's miracle comeback was possible. Indeed,
it was Milan who set up Steven Gerrard to win the penalty from which
Xabi Alonso equalised. The summer of 2005 was full of stories about
Baros leaving, particularly following the signing of Peter Crouch, and
although Milan came on as a substitute in Liverpool's first two games of
the season, he eventually left for Aston Villa for £6.5m in August. By
no means a goalscoring legend at Anfield, but his contributions
shouldn't be overlooked. (Mark Jones)
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