Milan Baroš (born 28 October 1981 in Vigantice, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a Czech international footballer.He is a striker who currently plays for Portsmouth, on loan from Lyon until the end of the season. He has previously played for Liverpool, Aston Villa, and FC Baník Ostrava, where he earned the nickname Ostrava's Maradona.
Liverpool
Baroš joined Liverpool in 2002, making his debut in a Champions League tie away to Barcelona. It was his only appearance of the 2001/02 season. The following season Baros scored twice on his Premiership debut away to Bolton Wanderers and ended the season with 12 goals for the club. For the 2003/04 season Baros was expected to feature more prominently but he broke his ankle in a match at Blackburn Rovers. He didn't play again for 6 months and scored just two goals all season as Gerard Houllier preferred both Emile Heskey and Michael Owen. Baroš would later claim that had Houllier stayed at the club after the summer of 2004 he would have put in a transfer request. As it was Houllier was sacked and replaced by Rafa Benítez.
On returning from Euro 2004, where he had been the top goalscorer, Baroš hit his best form for his club early in the 2004/05 season. With Michael Owen and Emile Heskey now sold and new signing Djibril Cissé out with a long term injury Baroš was now seen as the club's senior striker. Despite being the club's joint top scorer with thirteen goals, including a hat trick against Crystal Palace, Baroš was surprisingly dropped for the Carling cup final defeat to Chelsea. However, he played an important role in Liverpool's run to the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, playing virtually all the games in the competition as a lone striker as the club clinched its fifth title. Baroš reportedly dropped the trophy during the team's celebration, leaving a dent, but Liverpool decided not to mend it.
In June 2005, Baroš' future at Liverpool looked bleak, with the player seemingly poised to leave Liverpool to rejoin former manager Gérard Houllier at Lyon who had expressed interest in bringing him to France. Baroš, however, rejected the move, saying that he wanted to prove himself at Liverpool. It was widely reported, however, that Liverpool would try to sell Baroš before the transfer window closed on 31 August. Adding fuel to these rumours was Liverpool's purchase of Peter Crouch from Southampton, along with the decision by manager Rafael Benítez not to play Baroš in any of Liverpool's Champions League qualifying-round ties. By not playing Baroš, Benítez assured that Baroš would not be cup-tied to Liverpool, Cup-tied players are considerably less valuable, especially to teams that could reasonably afford the transfer fee that Liverpool would likely require for Baroš. Indeed, two clubs that had already qualified for the group phase, Lyon and Schalke, strongly pursued Baroš, but he expressed a desire to stay in the Premiership or to move to Spain.
He played as a substitute in the first 2 games of Liverpool's 2005-6 season but they were his last for the club. Baroš' name was still chanted from the crowd proving that despite his immiment departure he was a very popular player.
Aston Villa
Baroš moved to Premiership side Aston Villa for a fee of £6.5 million in August 2005, signing a four year contract. He was given the number 10 shirt. Just ten minutes into his Aston Villa debut, he scored the only goal in his new team's victory over Blackburn Rovers. He finished the season with 8 goals from 25 appearances. He also scored 3 goals in as many games in the FA Cup that season, as well as 1 goal from two Carling Cup appearances. But he never really won over the fans due to his perceived lack of effort and commitment to wearing the shirt.
The following season proved to be a nightmare for Milan as he simply could not score. He began the season as first-choice striker under Martin O'Neill and played alongside Juan Pablo Ángel but he soon got injured and lost his place to Luke Moore and the emerging Gabriel Agbonlahor. Boss Martin O'Neill challenged Baros to prove himself before the January transfer window. He subsequently opened his account for the season on December 11 with a close range equaliser against Sheffield United in a 2-2 draw. This didn't prove good enough and he was soon dropped from the squad altogether. January was just around the corner and it seemed destined that Baroš would be leaving the club. Following his final goal for Aston Villa in a 2-1 loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup he was sold to Lyon in a part exchange deal for John Carew.
He finished his Aston Villa career with 14 goals from 51 appearances.
Lyon
On 22 January 2007, Baroš signed with French side Lyon, reuniting with former manager Gérard Houllier from his time at Liverpool. The deal swapped Baros with Lyon striker John Carew, who joined Aston Villa on a three-and-a-half-year deal. On January 24, 2007, he made his Lyon Ligue 1 debut against Bordeaux.
On April 18, 2007, during Lyon's match against Rennes, Baroš was accused of making a racist gesture towards his Cameroon-born opponent Stéphane Mbia. After having been fouled by Mbia several times, Baroš held his nose in front of Mbia and waved his hand as if to waft away an unpleasant smell. In the ensuing controversy, Baroš insisted that his gesture was not intended to be racist in any way, and he was only trying to tell Mbia to get out of his face and leave him alone. [5] On May 4, Baroš and Mbia were brought before an official disciplinary hearing of the LFP. The jury ruled that Baroš was innocent of racist behavior, but he was nevertheless suspended for the remainder of the season for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Following the departure of Gérard Houllier, Baroš played significantly less under new manager Alain Perrin in the 2007/8 season. On November 1, Baroš was arrested in France while driving at 271 km/h in his black Ferrari F430, on a freeway limited to 130 km/h. Stopped by French Police between Lyon and Geneva in the region of Ain, the local authorities said the radar reading of 271km/h (168.4mph) was the fastest speed ever recorded in the region, beating the 248km/h (154mph) set by a motorcyclist in 2000. As a result, Baroš had his car and licence confiscated, had to take a taxi back to Lyon. In the awaiting court case, his driving licence may be suspended for up to three years and he will have to pay a significant fine.
Portsmouth
As of 27 January 2008, Milan completed a loan signing that will keep him at English side Portsmouth F.C. until the end of the 2007/2008 English Premier League season with a view to a permanent deal (7.000.000 €). Baros made his Portsmouth debut against Manchester United on 30 January 2008
The new arrival of Jermaine Defoe prompted what seemed to be a great strike partnership. In Defoe's debut Baros assisted him for the equaliser against Chelsea.
International career
At the 2004 European Football Championship, Baroš scored the first goal for the Czech Republic in their first game of the tournament, a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Latvia. He went on to score goals in the Czechs' other two group matches. His second goal was an equalizer against the Netherlands; the Dutch team had a two-goal lead over the Czechs until the 22nd minute, when Jan Koller scored from a Baroš pass. The Czechs went on to win that game. The last was a game-winning goal against Germany. Baroš and Dutch star Ruud van Nistelrooy were the only two players in the tournament to score in all three of their group matches.
Baroš added two goals in two minutes of the second half of the Czechs' quarterfinal win over Denmark, and finished as the tournament's Golden Boot with five goals.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a persistent foot injury kept him out of games against the United States and Ghana. He did appear in the Czech's final group game against Italy, but was considered unfit and was subsequently withdrawn after 65 minutes.
