With the curtain coming down on the career of Bundesliga legend Claudio Pizarro, we though we’d take a look back at his time in Germany with Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich, and Köln by looking at the numbers behind the man.
197
The total number of Bundesliga goals scored by the Peruvian in his time in the German topflight. He achieved this feat in 490 appearances, while also adding a further 38 goals in the DFB Pokal. Pizarro currently ranks as the second top scoring foreign player in Bundesliga history (behind Robert Lewandowski) and sixth overall. Broken down, he scored 109 for Werder, 87 for Bayern and just the one for Köln,
21
Pizarro’s favourite opponent during his time in Germany has been Werder’s Northern rivals Hamburger SV. He scored a total of 21 times against the Rothosen in 35 appearances. He scored against Bayern five times while at Werder, and against Werder four times while at Bayern. 21 is also the number of season’s he has played across his career with Werder, Bayern, Chelsea, and Köln.
7188
The gap in days between his first Bundesliga goal and his last. The first Pizarro goal in the Bundesliga came way back on September 12th, 1999 when he opened the scoring in a 5-0 win over Kaiserslautern at the Weser Stadion in his first home game. His final goal in the league was scored on May 18th, 2019- an 88th minute winner at home to RB Leipzig in the final game of the season.
€1.5 million
The transfer fee Werder paid to Alianza Lima to sign the then 21-year-old in 1999. He began his career in Peru at Academia Deportiva Cantolao before moving to Deportivo Pesquero Chimbote on a free. Club Alianza Lima then paid the equivalent of €60,000 for his signature in 1998.
40 years 227 days
His final goal against Leipzig also raised his own record of being the Bundesliga’s oldest goal scorer to 40 years and 227 days. The previous record had been held by Schalke’s Klaus Fischer.
13
Major honours won in Germany. Pizarro won the Bundesliga six times with Bayern Munich and added five DFB Pokals. He also won the cup with Werder in 2009. He was also a member of the Bavarian’s 2013 Champions League winning squad. In his medals collection can also be found a Uefa Super Cup medal, a FIFA Club World Cup medal and a DFL Super Cup medal.
