Milan Baros

Premier League Career: Liverpool FC (2002-2005), Aston Villa (2005-2007), Portsmouth (2008)

Milan Baros might be 37-years-old but he is still plying his trade in the Czech League for Banik Ostrava. He finished as top scorer at the 2004 European Championships with five goals and won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool FC a year later. His Premier League career though was a mixed bag with injury playing his part. Baros also wasn’t the strongest when it came to one-on-one situations with the opposing goalkeeper.

Baros’ career has gone full circle as he made his debut in the Czech League 21 years ago for Banik Ostrava. He scored 23 league goals in 76 appearances during his first spell, winning the Talent of the Year award at the Czech Footballer of the Year awards in 2000.

Liverpool FC took note and signed him in 2002 for £3.2 million. Fighting Emile Heskey and El-Hadji Diouf for a regular spot as Michael Owen’s strike partner, Baros’ first full season was considered a success, scoring 12 times. This included an electrifying debut away at Bolton Wanderers in September 2002 where Milan scored twice. He also won his first piece of major silverware, the League Cup in 2003 against Manchester United, arriving as a second half substitute.

In September 2003, Baros sustained a bad injury in the opening exchanges of a clash with Blackburn Rovers. He broke his ankle and was ruled out of action for over five months. This meant first-team football was limited and restricted him to just two league goals that season. So, no-one could have forecasted the amazing summer Baros was about to experience with his country at the European Championships.

He scored in all three group games and twice in the quarter-final victory over Denmark. The Czech Republic had a gifted team with the likes of Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky and Petr Cech among their stars. Considered favourites for the competition after the early exits of Italy, Spain and Germany, the Czechs were beaten on the ‘Silver Goal’ by surprise packages Greece in the semi-final. Baros himself didn’t complete the match. He was injured in the first half. It was the closest he would get to major international honours. He played at both the 2006 World Cup and 2008 European Championships but both competitions ended in group stage exits. Baros retired from international duty in 2012, having scored 41 times in 93 appearances. Only his long-time strike partner Jan Koller has scored more international goals for the Czech Republic.

With Owen and Heskey sold in the summer of 2004, Baros became Liverpool FC’s senior striker in Rafa Benitez’s first season at the helm. He scored 13 times in all competitions but couldn’t replicate the form he’d shown throughout the summer of 2004 in Portugal. He did score a Premier League hat-trick though in November 2004 in a narrow 3-2 home win over Crystal Palace, although two of these goals were penalties. The arrival of Fernando Morientes in January 2005 gave Baros some competition for a regular striking berth in the second half of the season and this left him as a frustrated substitute in the League Cup final. However, with Morientes cup-tied, Baros did start the 2005 UEFA Champions League final and played 85 minutes of the historic night in Istanbul which saw Liverpool regain the European Cup in the most unbelievable manner. It was reported that during the team’s celebration, Baros actually dropped the trophy, leaving a dent in it! It was almost his final act as an LFC player.

Lyon expressed an interest in the summer of 2005 to sign him but Baros turned the move down and after two substitute appearances at the start of 2005-2006, Milan left Anfield behind and joined Aston Villa for £6.5 million. Just 10 minutes into his league debut for the Villans, he scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game against Blackburn Rovers. He also scored twice in the 4-0 triumph at home to Everton on Boxing Day and made himself a bigger favourite with the supporters with another crucial double in April 2006 to help Villa defeat neighbours Birmingham City 3-1. That win effectively guaranteed the club’s Premier League status for another season. He scored 12 goals in his debut campaign in the Midlands but some felt his performances were indifferent considering the fee that had been sanctioned for his services.

Martin O’Neill took over in the summer of 2006 and preferred other striking options. Baros featured 17 times but mainly from the bench with his only goal coming in a 2-2 draw at Sheffield United in December 2006. He left in January 2007 and ultimately signed for Lyon, linking up again with Gerard Houllier, who had brought him into English football five years earlier. This was part of a swap deal that saw John Carew head to Aston Villa. Lyon won the French title that season but Houllier left in the close season and Baros didn’t get on with his replacement, Alain Perrin, featuring just six times under his management.

He returned to the English top-flight in January 2008, joining Portsmouth on-loan until the end of the season. He was part of the Pompey squad that won the 2008 FA Cup, setting up Kanu for his matchwinning strike in the semi-finals against West Bromwich Albion. However, he failed to score in his 16 appearances for the club and was absent from the team parade with the trophy. He left at the end of the season and ultimately, moved to Turkish champions Galatasaray in August 2008.

He claimed his second major league title in 2012 with the Turkish side and finished top scorer in the division in his first season with the club, netting 20 times including a hat-trick against fierce rivals Besiktas. Since 2012, Milan has moved about constantly in his homeland, spending two other spells with Banik Ostrava along with one campaign each at Mlada Boleslav and Slovan Liberec but never repeating the serial goalscoring form he demonstrated at Galatasaray or for his country. He did spend one further season in Turkey with Antalyaspor but disappointed with two goals in just 13 appearances.

Baros has four goals this season with Banik sitting in the top four in the table and set to take part in the Championship Group which decides the European positions at the end of the season for the Czech Republic.