Milan Baroš (born 28 October 1981 in Vigantice , Czech Republic) is a Czech international footballer. As of early 2005, he has been capped 35 times, scoring 21 goals. He is a striker who currently plays for Liverpool FC; his previous club was FC Baník Ostrava, where he had earned the nickname "Ostrava's Maradona".

At the 2004 European Football Championship, he scored the first goal for the Czech Republic in their first game of the tournament, a come-from-behind victory over Latvia by the score 2:1. 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 2 goal lead over the Czechs until the 22nd minute, when Jan Koller headed in Karel Poborsky's corner kick to give the Czech's first goal, 2-1. 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.

After a difficult start at his new club, he seems to have finally hit his best form for his club - something he was unable to do under the previous Liverpool manager. The lack of attacking players in the current squad, exacerbated by a season-long injury to Djibril Cissé, means that there is even more pressure on Baros to score goals.

External link

• Official website (in Czech)