Sunday’s match with Baník Ostrava was the last one for two club legends of Viktoria Plzeň. Slovakian striker Marek Bakoš finished his player’s career and offensive midfielder Daniel Kolář played his last match in Viktoria’s jersey. There will be an official farewell event at the beginning of the next season for Marek Bakoš. Now let’s have a brief look over his career…

“Baky“ came to Plzeň in July 2009 from Slovakian Ružomberok and right in his first season he proved he could score goals – in the league he netted 7 times within 24 matches and was the best scorer of the team. In the upcoming season he scored a winning goal against Baník (3-1) when Viktorians reached their historically first title.

In 2011/2012 season he became the club’s first scorer ever in the UEFA Champions League when he scored a goal against Bate Borisov. He also scored against this team in the rematch in Minsk and by this act he secured spring part of UEFA Europa League for Viktoria. Marek Bakoš scored many important goals. He netted his last goal for Viktoria on 31st March 2018 against Mladá Boleslav, only two weeks after his two-goal night against Sporting Lisbon.

Slovakian forward played in the Czech highest league in 217 matches and scored 67 goals, he also added 18 assists. For Plzeň he completed 250 matches in total, in which he counted 78 goals. His best season was 2011/2012 when he scored 24 goals – 6 in qualifying rounds of UCL, 2 in UCL group stage and 16 in Czech league.

“One period of my life finished. A man later remembers all positive moments that he experienced not only in Plzeň,“ favourite of Viktoria’s fans thinks. “It‘s all emotionally very strong. People in Plzeň grew on my heart. It was always very important to me to feel their support and I believe they were happy with my performance. I experienced amazing moments here – UCL, excellent league matches, UEL... There were a lot of those,” he recalls.

“Firstly, I‘d like to thank my father who brought me to football. He showed me what a ball is and how to kick it, he also settled me borders and guided me my whole career. Secondly, I’d like to thank my close family – mother, wife, kids, sister. They watched me every match and supported me. Last but not least I’d like to thank people who deeply supported me at the stadium in Plzeň, our fans. It fullfills a player,“ says Marek Bakoš, who he is planning to stay in football environment after his player‘s career.