Former Lazio striker Libor Kozak has spoken about his time in Rome during an Instagram Live interview.
“Sabatini brought me to Rome from the Czech second division. The beginning was difficult because I was young and did not know the language. The group was spectacular at the time: Rozenhal helped me a lot. I played in the Primavera in the first season and then I started against Inter. I also played against Juventus on the day of the farewell to football for Nedved, my compatriot, and hero.”
Kozak went on to speak about his feelings towards Lazio and the difficulty that Claudio Lotito and Igli Tare presented him with when he wanted to leave the club to move to the Premier League.
“After the loan to Brescia, I lived three wonderful years at Lazio. Every year we qualified for the Europa League, I grew up and gave my best. The team has remained in my heart, I always think of them and the fans are also wonderful.”
“The goodbye? I wanted to go to England, it was difficult to find an agreement with Lotito and Tare. After a bit of fighting, we finally shook hands and I managed to go to Aston Villa.”
Kozak currently plays for Czech Fortuna Liga club Sparta Prague, having joined the side from Slovan Liberec last year. Before play was suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Kozak had scored 6 goals in 14 league games. The Czech forward spent 5 years at Lazio and scored ten goals in Serie A across 58 games. He would then join Premier League side Aston Villa, where he scored 4 goals in his debut season, after a 6.5 million euro move. Unfortunately, he played just four games in the two seasons that followed before playing just 2 in the 2016-17 Championship season after Villa were relegated from the top flight.
