In 20 years of his career, the 37-year-old Claudio Pizarro has experienced a total of 8 transfers, but all of them add up to a cumulative transfer fee of only 13 million euros. This is a somewhat exaggerated fact – you know, former Henan Jianye player Bi Jinhao recently made Shanghai Greenland Shenhua pay 9.16 million euros in a transfer.
Last season, the Peruvian, who sat on the bench at Bayern Munich, scored just one goal in 17 appearances. For the first time since officially becoming a professional, he has been in the league for the entire season. Old, he's really old, we shouldn't blame him too much anymore, and the public opinion and fans at that time have accepted the fact that Peruvians are getting old.
Pizarro bid farewell to Bayern Munich
Pizarro himself, however, did not think so. Last summer, the Andean Bomber returned to Bremen, where he once played, and his thirst for football had not yet been exhausted. Then, this stubborn middle-aged man really surprised German football once again.
In the first half of the season, Pizarro was not in good shape due to being dragged down by the Copa America. With the second highest salary in the team, the Peruvian has only provided 2 goals and 1 assist in 14 games, and Bremen's record is also terrible, and it has been hovering around the relegation zone. However, in the second half of the league, Pizarro, who was finally relieved from fatigue, seemed to be reborn. In the last three months, he has scored 10 goals in nine league games and staged four consecutive goals and a hat-trick.
▲ Away to the pharmaceutical factory, Pizarro scored a hat-trick
On 2 March, No. 16 Bremen challenged No. 6 Bayer Leverkusen to play the 84th minute Peruvian at bayer Arena: in the 55th, 65th and 83rd minutes, he scored with his left foot, right foot and header, respectively, he scored the goal guarded by Leno. In 30 minutes, Pizarro became the oldest hat-tricker in Bundesliga history. After the game, the famous magazine "Kicker" scored a 1-point "high score" for him (the lower the better), while Leno, who witnessed the team's goals conceded a total of 4 times, could only accept the embarrassment of 4 points.
Three days later, the morale-boosting Bremen returned home against Hannover 96, who was struggling in the relegation zone. This time, Pizarro continued his good form, using a goal in the 26th minute and an assist in the 56th minute, and the Andean Bombers once again brought a 4-1 victory to the home team. Pizarro scored a penalty in a 1-1 home draw with Mainz at home to Bremen last weekend, a goal that had a different meaning for Pizarro himself – his 101st Bundesliga goal (182 games) for Bremen, making him tied with Bode as the most scoring player in the bundesliga in the team's history.
Pizarro has scored 101 goals in the Bundesliga for Bremen
Pizarro has scored 12 league goals in 2015-16 as the top scorer in the second half of the Bundesliga (10 goals with Levan), and among all the Bundesliga goal double-doubles players, the Peruvian even scores a goal every 108 minutes, second only to these three "German Super League players": Lewandowski (85 minutes), Aubameyang (99 minutes) and Thomas Müller (103 minutes).
Don't forget, Pizarro, who has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season, also holds the record for the most goals scored by foreign players in the Bundesliga – 188 goals. Although he is 37 years old, he is still in a race against time. Like many veterans who forced themselves to change their eating habits and lifestyle systems in the twilight of their careers (Giggs did yoga, Paul Pierce said goodbye to fried foods), Pizarro has officially given up whole milk, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, cola and beer since last summer, replacing them with fish, rice, soybeans, pasta and almond milk. In addition, he also deliberately strengthened his physical training to make himself more lean. In this way, strict self-discipline off the pitch not only helped the Peruvian lose weight, but also slowed down the pace of his career.
Pizarro's good popularity
At Pizarro's home in Peru, there are several good horses. To commemorate his time in Germany, he gave the horses the following names: Allianz, Karl Heinz (Rummenigge) and Marienplatz. But in 2018, Pizarro didn't want to go back to his home in Peru to spend the summer with his horse – "I want to lead the Peruvian national team to a World Cup, I know it's not easy, but my dream has always existed." ”