Even at the age of 43, Claudio Pizarro has not lost any of his scoring ability: he scored four goals in his farewell match at the Bremen stadium.
An all-star selection from Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich and a team of Pizarro’s friends (‘Claudios Amigos’) competed in the sold-out Bremen Arena. Three games of 30 minutes each were played. Many of Pizarro’s companions did the honours, including former Werder players Johan Micoud, Tim Wiese and the 1996 European champions Dieter Eilts and Marco Bode. Next to Pizarro, the former goal scorer Ailton received the most applause. For FCB, former attackers Arjen Robben, Giovane Elber and Mario Gomez were on the pitch. World Champion captain Philipp Lahm also did the honours, but was unable to play.
Pizarro: “I feel at home here “
It was Pizarro himself, however, who was granted the first goal after less than two minutes. He followed it up with three more goals before his very last substitution – at 7.25 pm Pizarro finally called it a day. “I feel at home here. I’m delighted to have played my last game here,” said the striker, who scored 197 goals in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and 1. FC Köln.
Pizarro celebrated great successes with Bremen and especially with FC Bayern. He became German champion six times with Bayern and won the Champions League in 2013. He ended his professional career in Bremen in 2020. Originally, his farewell match should have taken place a long time ago, but had to be postponed to this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pizarro moved to Werder Bremen in 1999. He stayed at the Weser until 2001, after which he played in the Bayern jersey for six years. In 2007 he moved to London, but was unable to establish himself at Chelsea FC. In 2008/09, he played on loan again in the Werder jersey, after which he was signed by Bremen on a permanent basis. In 2012, he made another move to FC Bayern and returned to Bremen after three years. In 2017/18 he had a one-year intermezzo with 1. FC Köln, before returning to play for SVW for the last two seasons.
Pizarro set a number of records during his 20-year Bundesliga career. With a total of 490 Bundesliga games, he is by far the foreign professional with the most Bundesliga games. On Saturday evening, not only football was played, there was also a cultural programme. Jan Delay, among others, performed on the stage.
