Istanbul hero looks completely different from Liverpool days after ditching trademark hair

Few players in the noughties had a more distinctive hair and beard combination than Milan Baros. While at times the Czech married his long hair with a clean-shaven face, at other times he sported a soul patch - a little tuft of facial hair beneath his bottom lip.

However, in recent years the former Aston Villa striker has remodelled himself, and now sports a short back and sides hair cut with a fuller beard. Most die-hard Liverpool fans would probably still recognize Baros but younger fans could be forgiven for failing to identify the 42-year-old.

Baros joined Liverpool from Czech club Banik Ostrava in 2001 and spent four years at Anfield. His goal-scoring output was largely disappointing, though, as he scored just 27 times in 108 appearances in all competitions.

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However, he was part of the legendary Liverpool side who won the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul which saw Rafa Benitez's side somehow overturn a 3-0 deficit to beat a stacked AC Milan side boasting the likes of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Jaap Stam, Cafu, Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf and Andriy Shevchenko.

Baros was replaced with Djibril Cisse on 85 minutes, with Liverpool going on to win the final on penalties. And the ex-Liverpool star was also involved in the famous 'ghost goal' at Anfield that saw the Reds go through 1-0 on aggregate against Chelsea in the semi-final.

It was Baros who raced in behind the Chelsea defence, latching on to a ball from Steven Gerrard to put him one on one with Petr Cech. While Baros was unable to lift the ball into the net past Cech, his teammate Luis Garcia latched onto a loose ball to 'score' for Liverpool.

Of course, now we know the ball never crossed the line but that didn't matter to Garcia, Baros and the Liverpool supporters that evening who booked their place in the final in Istanbul.

Baros also played for Aston Villa and Portsmouth in England, and continued playing for over 10 years after leaving the Premier League, rounding his career off in 2020 back at Banik Ostrava.