Libor Kozák

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Libor Kozák
File:Libor Kozák 2013.jpg
Personal information
Full name Libor Kozák[1]
Date of birth (1989-05-30) 30 May 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth Opava, Czechoslovakia
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Aston Villa
Number 27
Youth career
2001–2006 Opava
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2008 Opava 41 (19)
2008–2013 Lazio 58 (10)
2009–2010 → Brescia (loan) 29 (3)
2013– Aston Villa 16 (4)
International career‡
2007–2008 Czech Republic U19 9 (3)
2009–2011 Czech Republic U21 14 (3)
2012– Czech Republic 8 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:55, 13 January 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 September 2013

Libor Kozák (born 30 May 1989) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Aston Villa. He is a member of the Czech Republic national football team.

Career

SFC Opava

Kozák started his career in 2001 with Czech club Slezský FC Opava, first playing with its youth teams before being promoted to the first team in 2007. Considered a promising talent, Kozák was a prolific goalscorer in the Czech Second Division with Opava. In October 2007, he scored his first hat-trick, coming in a 5–1 Opava win against FC Zenit Čáslav in the second division.[3]

In January 2008, Kozák went on trial with English Premier League club Portsmouth, however he did not join Pompey.[4] At the end of the season, Italian giants Lazio came calling and Kozák accepted a move to Rome.

Lazio

Kozák joined Lazio in July 2008, signing a five-year contract, with rumours that Lazio club president Claudio Lotito paid a 1.2 million euro (1.8 million dollars) transfer fee.[5]

Kozák made his long-awaited Serie A debut on 2 May 2009, coming on as a substitute for Mauro Zárate in the 84th minute against Inter at the San Siro. Lazio lost the match 0–2.

After a season at Lazio, the club loaned him to Serie B side Brescia for the 2009–10 season, to gain experience and regular playing time. On 26 September 2009, Kozák scored his first goal in Italy against Grosseto.[6]

At the end of his loan spell, he returned to Lazio. He scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti on 18 September 2010, scoring the winner against Fiorentina. He went on to score the winner against Sampdoria on 16 January 2011. Two weeks later he registered his third and fourth goals for Lazio, against Fiorentina once again. He later won the attraction of Michal Bílek, manager of Czech Republic, as the latter made a special trip to Stadio Olimpico to watch his game against Bari.

In the 2012–13 season Kozák, under coach Vladimir Petković, had a two faced season where he failed to score in 19 appearances in Serie A, but finished the season as the leading goal scorer in the Europa League with 8 goals. He scored his first club hat trick vs VFB Stuttgart in Rome on Thursday 14 March 2013, helping his team reach the last eight by an aggregate score of 5–1.[7]

Aston Villa

On 2 September 2013, Kozák signed a four-year deal with English side Aston Villa for €6.5 million transfer fee,[8] being assigned the number 27 shirt.[9] On 14 September 2013, Kozák made his Aston Villa debut at Villa Park, but couldn't prevent the side from losing 2–1 to Newcastle United. On 21 September 2013, Kozák scored his first goal for Villa, seconds after replacing Christian Benteke, against Norwich City which proved to be the winning goal in a 1–0 victory.[10] On 9 November 2013, Kozak scored his second Villa goal with a header in a 2–0 victory against Cardiff City. On 4 December 2013, he scored the second goal in a 3–2 victory over Southampton. On 21 December 2013, he scored the only goal for Villa in a 2–1 loss to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.[11]

On 2 January 2014 Villa announced that Kozak had broken his right leg in a training ground collision with team-mate Ciaran Clark, and would miss the rest of the 2013–14 season.[12] Complications and further injuries saw Kozák miss the entire 2014–15 season as well.[13] He eventually made his come back 15 months after the initial leg break in March 2015 in an under-21 match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[14] He made his first team comeback in July 2015 in a 3–1 pre-season defeat to Fulham, in which he scored for the first time since December 2013.[15]

International career

Kozák played for the Czech under-21 team, representing the team at the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

Kozák received his first call up for the senior Czech national team on 15 March 2011, when coach Michal Bílek selected him in his squad to take on Spain and Liechtenstein, however Kozák did not make his senior international debut.[16]

Career statistics

As of match played 30 June 2015[17][18]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Opava 2006–07 Czech 2. Liga 15 8 0 0 – – 15 8
2007–08 Czech 2. Liga 26 11 0 0 – – 26 11
Total 41 19 0 0 – 0 0 41 19
Lazio 2008–09 Serie A 3 0 0 0 – 0 0 3 0
2009–10 Serie A 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 0 0
2010–11 Serie A 19 6 3 1 – 0 0 22 7
2011–12 Serie A 17 4 0 0 – 7 1 24 5
2012–13 Serie A 19 0 1 0 – 11 10 31 10
Total 58 10 4 1 – 18 11 80 22
Brescia (loan) 2009–10 Serie B 29 3 0 0 – 0 0 29 3
Total 29 3 0 0 – 0 0 29 3
Aston Villa 2013–14 Premier League 14 4 0 0 1 0 – 15 4
2014–15 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0
Total 14 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 15 4
Career total 142 36 4 1 1 0 18 11 165 48

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Bilek names squad for Spain, Liechtenstein.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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