I doubt there has ever been a centre forward at Lazio as tall as Libor Kozak. At 1.93 he was an ideal player for crosses and not only. He was not slow either so he could score in any possible way.
Kozak was born in Brumov-Bylnice in the Czech Republic on May 30, 1989. Early in his career he played in defence because he was so tall but his feeling for the goal and his dribbling skills made coaches move him forward. He started his football career with Opava and stayed there until 2008 debuting in the second Czech tier.
In 2008 he signed for Lazio. He initially played in the primavera team but impressed Delio Rossi who started to call him for the A team. He debuted in Serie A on May 9, 2009 at San Siro against Inter. After three appearances he was loaned to Brescia in Serie B for the 2009-10 season. Following a good year in Lombardy he was called back to Rome and played three years for the Biancocelesti. Kozak was not a goal scoring machine in Serie A, but, particularly in his last year, he scored many goals in Europa League of which he was top scorer in 2012-‘13. He was part of the teams that won the Coppa Italia 2008-2009 and the historical one against Roma in 2013.
Adriano Galliani, Silvio Berlusconi’s right hand man, when at Milan accused Kozak of being a dirty player and from then on he had a tough time with the Serie A referees. In a game with AC Milan he first elbowed Daniele Bonera and then literally clashed heads with Nicola Legrottaglie. Galliani said at the end of the game that Libor should have been arrested.
In 2013 Lazio decided to cash in some money and sold Kozak to Aston Villa. After a good start, at the beginning of 2014 he suffered a serious injury breaking his leg. Due to complications following an operation which went wrong, he missed the entire 2014-15 season. He came back after 605 days in August 2015 but in January he broke his ankle. In four years with the Villans he played just 22 games.
Once his contract was over he signed for Bari in Serie B. In the 2017-18 season he appeared in 16 games scoring two goals but the club then went bust and he was a free agent. In 2018 he signed for Livorno in Serie B but left after nine games to join Slovan Liberec. In 2019 he joined Sparta Prague and stayed for two years appearing in 55 games and scoring 22 goals.
In 2021 he signed for Puskas Akademia in Hungary. After 29 appearances and 5 goals he moved back to the Czech Republic and signed with Slovacko. In January 2023 he signed with Trinity Zlin.
Kozak has 9 caps with the Czech Republic and two goals.
Lazio fans have a very fond memory of Kozak and gave him a big hand when on May 28 the heroes of the 2013 Coppa Italia win celebrated their tenth anniversary at the Olimpico before Lazio Cremonese.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Europa League |
2008-09 | 3 | 3 | - | - |
2010-11 | 22 (7) | 19 (6) | 3 (1) | - |
2011-12 | 24 (5) | 17 (4) | - | 7 (1) |
2012-13 | 31 (10) | 19 | 1 | 11 (10) |
Total | 80 (22) | 58 (10) | 4 (1) | 18 (11) |
Sources
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