Czech forward Milan Baroš sat out this Wednesday morning’s training session at the Municipal Stadium Oporowska in Poland, raising concern the 30-year-old player for Galatasaray might not be able to play in Friday’s match against Russia, the Czech team’s first in the 2012 European Championships being hosted by Poland and Ukraine.
Baroš, the top scorer at Euro 2004, who has made 41 goals in 89 games for the national team, went to a hospital in Wroclaw for a scan of his thigh injury. Although he returned to the stadium soon after, he did not take part in Wednesday’s session.
“The scan did not reveal any rupture; Milan Baroš will stay with the team,” said Czech team doctor Petr Krejčí, as cited by UEFA.com. “The muscle is only slightly strained. He will join the team in training tomorrow. After that, we will decide whether he can be passed fit for the opening game.”
It was not the only injury scare involving a Czech star. Arsenal midfielder Tomáš Rosický — the national team’s captain — strained a calf muscle in the English club’s last Premier League match on May 13 and had been training only lightly with the rest of the club.
But Rosický has trained with the team this week, and Dr Krejčí says he should be fit for Friday’s contest. And Baroš? “If Milan does the full training session with the team, he will be ready to play; if he trains on his own, he will not,” the doctor said.
Meanwhile, another Czech striker, Tomáš Necid (CSKA Moscow), has only recently recovered from a long-term knee injury and may not be in top form.
After Russia, on June 12 the Czechs face Greece — who bested them in the Euro 2004 semi-finals before going on to lift the trophy — and then co-hosts Poland on June 16.
The full Czech squad:
- Goalkeepers:Petr Čech (Chelsea), Jarolsav Drobný (Hamburg), Jan Laštůvka (Dnepropetrvsk).
- Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Liberec), Roman Hubník (Hertha), Michal Kadlec (Leverkusen), David Limberský (Plzeň), František Rajtoral (Plzeň), Tomáš Sivok (Besiktas), Marek Suchý (Spartak Moscow).
- Midfielders: Vladimír Darida (Plzeň), Tomáš Hübschman (Shakhtar Donetsk), Petr Jiráček (Wolfsburg), Daniel Kolář (Plzeň), Milan Petržela (Plzeň), Václav Pilař (Plzeň), Jaroslav Plašil (Bordeaux), Jan Rezek (Famagusta), Tomáš Rosický (Arsenal).
- Strikers: Milan Baroš, David Lafata (Jablonec), Tomáš Necid (CSKA Moscow), Tomáš Pekhart (Nuremberg).
