Milan Baros: Liverpool hero plays delayed farewell game aged 44

Milan Baros played his farewell match at the age of 44, six years after he retired and more than five years later than planned.

The Milan Baros farewell match should have taken place in July 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced it off the calendar until this week.

The former Liverpool striker split the game in two at the City Stadium in Ostrava-Vitkovice, turning out for Banik Ostrava in the first half before changing shirts for a team of former internationals built around his Anfield and national team years.

Petr Cech, Tomas Rosicky, Vladimir Smicer and Jerzy Dudek all played their part in a sold-out send-off.

Milan Baros farewell match: how it happened

Baros retired six years ago, but organisers always planned one more afternoon for the striker Liverpool fans remember from the 2004/05 Champions League run.

The pandemic pushed that plan back from 2020 to this week, and our full report on Baros’ farewell match covers how the delay came about.

Baros addressed the crowd once the final whistle went.

As detailed by the Liverpool Echo, he said: “It’s been six years since the end of my career, the boys have grown up and I’m glad I was able to play with them thanks to this.

“Everything ends eventually, today was the last time. Thank you to everyone who came.”

He then turned to the supporters who filled the stadium.

“We enjoyed this together, but everything comes to an end eventually. Today was the last time, but I’ll keep coming to watch and cheer with you.

“Banik will always stay in my heart, I’ll always support it. A huge thank you to everyone who came and created this wonderful atmosphere,” Baros said.

Poslední střídání Milana Baroše za obrovských ovací! 👏#OneplaySport | #RozluckaMilanaBarose pic.twitter.com/gKlIcUzdLZ

— Oneplay Sport (@oneplaysportcz) September 26, 2026

A cult hero who gave everything

Baros signed for Liverpool in 2001 and left in August 2005, scoring 27 goals in 108 appearances.

He started the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan too, playing until the 85th minute before Liverpool won on penalties.

His five goals at Euro 2004 won him the tournament’s Golden Boot, as the Czech Republic reached the semi-finals. His 41 goals in 93 caps still make him the country’s second all-time leading scorer.

Vladimir Smicer, who lined up alongside him in Istanbul, remembers the adjustment Baros had to make when he first arrived on Merseyside.

In tributes from former team-mates at the farewell match, Smicer said: “It was a huge jump for him, he needed time to adjust, he didn’t know the language, but he managed, started scoring goals, and the high point was winning the Champions League final.”

Smicer also praised Baros as a dressing room presence. “He was a great team-mate, always giving a hundred percent on the pitch.

He loved the team, loved the dressing room and wanted the group to stick together off the pitch too,” he said.

Smicer pointed to the turnout in Ostrava as proof of Baros’ standing back home: “Not everyone in Czechia manages to sell out a whole stadium for their farewell.”

Jerzy Dudek, part of that same Liverpool squad, pointed to the weight Baros carried through the 2004/05 campaign.

“That whole season he was a very important player for Liverpool. And that’s why we’re here today, for him, a legend of football,” Dudek said.

Petr Cech, who played alongside Baros for the Czech Republic rather than at club level, described the same relentlessness on the international stage.

“A great team-mate and team player. He’d do anything for the team. He loves football, and whenever he steps onto the pitch he always gives everything he’s got,” Cech said.

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