Milan Baros: 'I regret leaving Liverpool'

Former Liverpool striker Milan Baros has said that he regrets looking for a new club soon after dropping down the pecking order at Anfield.

Just months after helping Liverpool win the Champions League, Baros signed for Aston Villa after Rafael Benitez opted to buy Peter Crouch, which would have left the Czech attacker on the substitutes' bench.

However, despite the prospect of less time on the pitch, Baros has insisted that he made the wrong decision to leave the Merseyside giants in August 2005.

The 35-year-old told This is Anfield: "Rafa came to me and told me he wanted to bring in Peter Crouch. It meant I would be second or third choice.

"It seemed an easy decision at the time, but if I could go back to that moment now, I would choose to stay. There are a lot of games in a season and I'd have got my chance again. Now I know it was a bad decision. I wish I had stayed and been patient."

Baros now plays in the Czech top flight with Slovan Liberec.