Breaking: Liverpool’s 2005 champions league cult hero is dead
Milan Baros was part of the unfancied Liverpool side that claimed Champions League glory in 2005 but his time at Anfield didn’t come with clashing with his managers
When Rafa Benitez needed to sell Michael Owen within weeks of arriving at Anfield it left a sizeable void that needed filling.
Enter one Milan Baros, signed by Liverpool two years earlier as an unknown quantity, the Czech star would produce his best goalscoring season in a Reds shirt en route to winning the Champions League. He remains one of only four Czech men to win the competition and, nearly two decades on from that iconic night in Istanbul, he’s still playing having turned 42 on Saturday.
Baros is still turning out for amateur side FK Vigantice in his homeland having called time on his spell as a professional after a third stint with boyhood club Banik Ostrava back in 2020.
It was in the Premier League though that he made his name having been signed by Gerard Houllier as Liverpool looked to end their wait for a top-flight success. Two seasons later though and he found himself leading the line for a team that were struggling to make the top four.
Liverpool eventually finished fifth, but in an incredible turn of events conquered Europe, seeing off Juventus, Chelsea and then AC Milan. Baros would start the final in Turkey, playing 85 minutes before Djibril Cissé was bought on as his replacement, but only after he’d publicly lamented Benitez’s selection plan
He said: “It is not true that I had or have had disputes with Benítez, but I am annoyed that when I’m fit I only warm the bench. Or when Benítez takes me off during a game even if I haven’t used up all my energy on the pitch. I need to play. Only then will I be better than I am now
Only 12 months earlier and Baros had underlined his goalscoring prowess to the whole of Europe as his Czech Republic side made the last four of Euro 2004. They topped a group that included the Netherlands and the Germans, scoring against them both as he finished as the tournament’s top scorer.”s.corer.
Had Houllier not been sacked that summer, Baros could well have been on his bike. Boasting the man who’s just top scored at the Euros in your squad is no mean feat. Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and David Villa have been among those to top the charts in other Euros this century.
The Czech had been told he played better for his country than his club, but denied that and claimed he’d struggled on Merseyside as a result of Houllier.
Baros claimed: “Houllier knocked the confidence out of me. I wasn’t being picked and I thought it would be best to leave Liverpool in the summer. I was very hurt at not being in the side. I was fit and felt it was an injustice. But a new coach has come in now and the situation has changed. Every player will start next season from the same point under Rafael Benitez.
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