Stubbs hits back at reckless Baros

The Liverpool striker Milan Baros has been heavily criticised for his challenge on the Everton captain Alan Stubbs, who described the flying tackle during Sunday's Merseyside derby as "shocking".

The Liverpool striker Milan Baros has been heavily criticised for his challenge on the Everton captain Alan Stubbs, who described the flying tackle during Sunday's Merseyside derby as "shocking".

Liverpool hung on with 10 men to win 2-1, but the repercussions could be significant for Baros, whose hopes of avoiding Rafael Benitez's summer cull at Anfield could have disappeared after a red card which could damage Liverpool's Champions' League ambitions.

The look on Benitez's face as the Czech striker trudged past him said it all and the Spaniard could not bring himself to defend his striker, saying: "He deserved a red card."

Stubbs was more damning of a player who will not play in a League match now for Liverpool until the trip to Portsmouth on 20 April, once he has served a three-match ban.

"You don't do those types of tackles, they can finish players' careers," Stubbs said. "It was a shocking tackle and I don't care what people say about typical strikers' challenges, that's a load of nonsense. It was a tackle that could finish a career whether it was mine or anybody else and it is just not acceptable."

He added: "I would have accepted it if he had looked the other way and left his leg there, but when you look at a player and still push your leg into his leg then it is totally different. I would have been the first to shake his hand if he had turned away and left his foot dangling but it wasn't the case."

Baros's tackle in the context of a game with three Liverpool players already off injured and Luis Garcia a passenger was irresponsible. He had already missed two chances to clinch the match, having stretched Benitez's patience in recent weeks with complaints over not starting the Carling Cup final.

The Spaniard will make changes in the summer and nobody would be surprised to see Baros on his way with the potential of a decent fee following his exploits at Euro 2004 still fresh in the minds of Europe's leading clubs.

Benitez said: "Maybe Milan was thinking about the two chances he missed when he made that tackle, but for us it is a big problem because we now do not have any forwards left."

The Anfield manager was still overjoyed with the derby win, saying: "It was so important for us to win because a lot of people didn't have confidence in the team. We have always said it is possible to reduce the gap and now we will have more confidence for the future.

"If Milan had scored one or two of his clear opportunities we would have scored more because Everton would have had to come out and attack us and we would have had more space.

"We have talked about having the determination to win, from first tackle to last. We played with the same mentality we have shown in Champions' League games."