When I’m sad about people, about myself or not at all, I usually play something from the Cimrmans or an excerpt from a match with the Dutch. Yes, of course the one from Aveira from Euro 2004.
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It’s been sixteen years since this epoch-making intergalactic battle took place, so if you’re younger and haven’t seen the match yet, be sure to watch it when Czech Television repeats it as part of its retroseries. And record it straight away, because you’ll want to see it more than once. I don’t even have to advise those who have already seen it, because they will simply touch the screen automatically.
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I’ve never seen anything like it before, and I’m completely reconciled to never seeing it again.
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The Czechs lose 0: 2 with the great Dutch, coach Brückner sends other strikers to the field, he plays at total risk. And fantastic things are happening on the field, which ends with a Czech turn to 3: 2.
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Over the years, Petr Čech, Pavel Nedvěd, Tomáš Rosický, Karel Poborský, Jan Koller and all others who were there at the time have become wonderless fairy-tale creatures. And of course also from Milan Baroš, who played one of the most amazing parts in that charming performance.
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First he caught the Dutch pass, pushed through Jaap Stam and recorded Jan Koller for the first reduction of the score. And when Pavel Nedvěd fluffed a balloon on the tower with the inscription Koller on his back, which collapsed the ball about sixteen, such a goal racket flew out of Baroš’s half-volley that the net did not break the net in the corner of van der Sar’s goal.
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And there was much more. And not just in this match. Milan Baroš scored at Euro 2004 (almost) every time. Against Latvia, the Netherlands, Germany, twice in the quarterfinals against Denmark. Unfortunately, only in the semifinals to the Greeks he had no goal left, so he went home with bronze. Only. Because this Euro was just supposed to be won.
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But Milan Baroš at least won the shooters’ competition. He returned home as a god. A smiling republic lay at the feet of a smiling boy with raven hair, boys for football, girls because they fell in love with him.
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Return from Euro 2004 or Milan Baroš, superstar.
He was 22 years old. And just at that time, his life and career broke into two parts. Here before the Portuguese Euro – and here after it.
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Someone has a career that rises gradually, step by step. And it is not known where he will go and how long he will stay there.
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Milan Baroš had it differently. At the age of twenty, he was already a player of the famous Liverpool FC. And His career culminated in the summer of 2004. Like when a dark comet lights up a dark sky. His next years were actually magnificent in many ways, and what would everyone give for them today. But the trend was simply downward.
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Milan Baroš’s famous success in Portugal changed his personality and humanity a bit. Numerous parties entered his life as an inseparable part of him, until he was hooked. And it gradually began to show in his football.
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He became an increasingly frequent target of criticism. And justified. Probably the greatest humiliation came for him in the qualifying match with Spain in October 2011, when after a terrible performance, coach Michal Bílek replaced him after an hour of play. And then the dissatisfied Letná whistled Baroš.
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Nevertheless, even this unloved team with Baroš in the attack finally shone in advance to Euro 2012 and to advance to the quarterfinals.
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Each of us records ups and downs in life. At the same time, however, few people see the whole country into this life in the same way as Milan Baroš. Of course, everything is harder then.
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And now that Baroš’s football career is coming to an end, we have to evaluate it as a whole. And in spite of all the negatives, just get up and clap long, long and appreciative.
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Baroš’s goal joy in the Euro 2004 quarterfinals against Denmark.
Because we may not have a footballer from such a fairytale collection as “then in Portugal” here for a long time. Milan Baroš was and is very distinctive. Crash. Both on the field and in life. At its core, the most suitable person in the world who would cut for others or maybe Baník. And at the same time a man who sometimes had to hide from the world behind a mask of harsh arrogance.
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In sum, however, an amazing football star that will be remembered for generations. And with increasing age, as usual, only in good.
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The greatest successes of Milan Baroš
Euro 2004 participant (bronze). WC 2006, Euro 2008 and Euro 2012. And also OH 2000
Top scorer and member of the Euro 2004 All Star Tournament.
In the Under-21 category vice-champion (2000) and European champion (2002)
With Liverpool Champions League winner (2004), with Lyon French League winner, with Galatasaray Turkish League.
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What was his greatest football charm on the pitch? In that he could disrupt any defense. And this is a hugely valuable card.
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No, he never knew the Brazilian loophole, he didn’t even excel in long sprints. But he was an animal, a predator, a savage in the best sense of the word. When Baroš flew into the penalty area with a balloon on his leg, it was as if a torn wagon had smashed the defense. He was unstoppable. Like when a flood comes and everything falls apart.
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Or like a predator circling over a land and suddenly dive headlong down for prey.
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The sudden moment of Baroš’s blow, the force of his first two or three steps, which shattered any defensive wall, were completely unique elements that the football scouts of the best clubs in Europe could not escape, because he offered them as a very young player. Gifted at the same time with complete greed for football and an incredible will to win.
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And let’s not forget. To all this, the judges also awarded Milan Baroš excellent timing and an excellent finish, a shot that usually found the target. A total of 141 goals in first-league competitions and 41 goals in the national team are the best proof.
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Euro 2012. The not very loved team fans have just advanced to the quarterfinals.
Although they may be saying something else today, the then owner of the club, Alois Hadamczik, forced the coaches of Baník Ostrava to pull Milan Baroš into the league A-team as soon as possible. He felt that this boy could financially secure the club that this would be terno. And the amount of 180 million crowns that Baník had already collected from Liverpool for Baroš undoubtedly fulfilled his ideas richly.
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For that time and for a twenty-year-old boy, it was simply a treasure.
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Baroš drove slowly on Anfield Road. He played only 17 minutes in the first half of the year. But at the Nou Camp in the Champions League.
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The 2002/03 season was a breakthrough. He shone in her. But in September 2003, she was followed by an ankle fracture. A hell of a thing he’s been coming back for a long time. And he gained strength, both mental and physical, for his greatest national performance – the Portuguese.
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After months of forced fasting, Milan Baroš was incredibly hungry for football. And the rivals of the Czech team on the Euro took it.
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And so is Vladimír Šmicer, who was pushed out of the basic line-up by Milan Baroš just before the Euro to the position of exclusive first substitute. To this day, no doubt regrets any of them.
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In the Liverpool jersey, Baroš and Šmicer enjoyed another epoch-making reversal of the score a year later, which went down in history as a Istanbul miracle. That’s when Liverpool lost to AC Milan 0: 3 in the Champions League final. But in the 60th minute it was already 3: 3, when after Gerrard’s and Šmicer’s goal shot, Xabi Alonso added the third goal from the penalty shot. And the penalty was created by Baroš sending a balloon to Gerrard, who fouled in the penalty area.
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Despite this huge success, Milan Baroš no longer had such a strong position in Liverpool. After Euro 2004, Barcelona was also thinking about it, but it was already a passé at that time. He voted for Aston Villa, it was a bit of a step backwards,
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He then won the French league with Olympique Lyon, where he was transferred by an old acquaintance from Liverpool, coach Gérard Houllier. More and more often, however, controversies began to appear alongside football.
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“This is a speed record in the department,” said Claude Loron, Ain police chief, who measured Baros’s Ferrari 430 Coupé in a section with a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour. Specifically, 271 kilometers per hour.
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Worse was the incident with a gesture towards his opponent Mdi, when Baroš stuffed his nose on the field and pretended to blow away the stinky air…
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Despite visiting Portsmouth, Milan Baroš got a job at Galatasaray Istanbul. On the one hand, those who are no longer enough for the Premier League go to Turkey. On the other hand, Baroš spent beautiful years there, scored goals and fans loved him. So before the last season came, when coach Fatih Terim completely cut him off for a change.
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Milan Baroš in Galatasaray jersey
The first fairytale return home came to Baník. Then return to Turkey, to Antalya, where everything was damaged by a serious injury. And then just finishing a career in Mladá Boleslav, Liberec and finally somewhere other than in Baník Ostrava.
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Milan Baroš has that club in his heart more than anyone else. And it applies to each other.
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Now the star has announced that he will say goodbye in his jersey in Sunday’s match against Pilsen. An amazing career will end with starts at major national tournaments, two final matches at the Junior Euro or a victory in the Champions League.
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Milan Baroš had more dreams come true during it than many others dare to imagine. He dared to really touch the stars.
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Let’s stand up and clap. Milan, thanks for everything!
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