Berlin (AFP)
Claudio Pizarro, former player of Bayern Munich and Chelsea, completed at 41 years a brilliant career started in 1996, Tuesday evening at the time of the jump-off for the maintenance / accession to the Bundesliga which saw his team, Werder Bremen, maintain.
A discreet outing for the Peruvian striker, on the small field of the 2nd division team from Heidenheim, where he was only a replacement.
But, if he did not even come into play in this match, the young "quadra", was carried in triumph by his teammates after the maintenance of Werder Bremen, and praised by his coach.
In its final season, the center-forward only played match scraps: 18, all as a substitute.
"After the match, I apologize to him for not bringing him into the game," said Werder coach Florian Kohfeldt. "The situation did not lend itself to it," said the technician.
"I cannot take my hat lower or bow more deeply to Claudio Pizarro and what he has done for Werder Bremen," he added.
Pizarro started in Germany in the 1998/99 season at Werder Bremen, who picked him up at Allianza Lima at the age of 19. Then he played at Bayern Munich (2001-2007 and 2012-2015), with which he was crowned six times German champion and succeeded in the treble Championship-Cup-Champions League in 2013, Chelsea (2007-2009), again at Werder Bremen (2009-2012 and 2015-2017), in Cologne (2017-2018), before returning to Bremen in 2018.
In 490 Bundesliga games, he scored 197 goals. Only foreigner of the German championship to have done better: the Polish center-forward of Bayern Munich Robert Lewandowski.
As for the follow-up to his career, Pizarro assured that he had no intention of becoming a coach and was offered a position as ambassador for Bayern Munich.
© 2020 AFP