Claudio Pizarro

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Claudio Pizarro
Personal information
Full name	Claudio Miguel Pizarro Bossio
Date of birth	October 3, 1978 (1978-10-03) (age 29)
Place of birth	Callao, Peru
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Chelsea
Number	14
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996–1997 1997–1999 1999–2001 2001–2007 2007–	Deportivo Pesquero Alianza Lima Werder Bremen Bayern Munich Chelsea	042 (11) 044 (25) 056 (29) 174 (70) 021 0(2)
National team2
1999–2007	Peru	053 (13)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:11, 6 June 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 21:11, 6 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Claudio Miguel Pizarro Bosio (born 3 October 1978 in Callao, Peru) is a Peruvian professional football forward. Pizarro plays for Chelsea of the English Premier League and for the Peru national football team, for which he has 53 caps.

Contents 1 Club careers 1.1 Deportivo Pesquero 1.2 Alianza Lima 1.3 Werder Bremen 1.4 Bayern Munich 1.5 Chelsea 2 International career 3 Honours 4 Career stats 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Club careers

[edit] Deportivo Pesquero

Pizarro started playing with Deportivo Pesquero, a small provincial team in the north of Peru, at the age of seventeen. He caught the eye of scouts of Cantolao, a larger club in the port city of Callao near Lima, and was invited to train with their reserve team. However, he never signed with Cantolao. Instead, at the age of nineteen, Pizarro was sold by Deportivo to Peruvian top division club Alianza Lima, with whom he made his top-flight debut.

[edit] Alianza Lima

Pizarro scored 25 goals over two seasons with Alianza Lima and was part of the Alianza team that won the Torneo Clausura of Peru in 1999. Shortly after Alianza's title triumph, Pizarro was sold to German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. Later that year, he earned his first cap for the national team of Peru.

[edit] Werder Bremen

Pizarro's 29 goals over two seasons for Werder Bremen made the rising star of Peruvian football more coveted by managers of major European clubs. After the Bundesliga 2000–2001 season, Werder announced that it would not prevent Pizarro from moving to a bigger club, and the conflict to secure the Peruvian forward's services intensified. The media indicated that Real Madrid and Barcelona of Spain, Internazionale of Italy, and Werder's Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund were in the running to sign Pizarro. The most speculated transfer in Peruvian football monopolized the interest of the national press. After seeming destined for Spain, Pizarro ended weeks of speculation by signing for Bayern Munich on June 7, 2001.

[edit] Bayern Munich

Pizarro was a key player in Bayern's Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2003.

The “Bomber”, or sometimes called “Inca God” by the media, started well with Bayern Munich scoring his first goal with the Bavarian team in the fourth minute of the game against Schalke (the second date of the Bundesliga 2001–2002). He scored 100 goals in this team.

Pizarro's contract with the German champions expired at the end of the 2006–07 season and negotiations on an extension were not making progress, with Sevilla, Benfica and Glasgow Rangers ready to step in and make a move. Pizarro later rejected a contract extension offered by Bayern chairman Franz Beckenbauer, demanding an increase in pay which angered Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who was quoted saying that “Anyone wishing to earn as much as Shevchenko had better start playing like Shevchenko.”

On May 20, 2007 Bayern Munich announced Pizarro would be leaving the club.^[1]

[edit] Chelsea

On July 1, 2007, Chelsea officially signed Pizarro and confirmed that he had completed his medical and agreed on personal terms to join the club on a Bosman transfer. His contract will last for four seasons until June 2011 and he will receive $5 million per year.^[2][3] He is the first Peruvian ever to sign for Chelsea. Pizarro also revealed that his decision was largely influenced by the advice of his national team team-mate Nolberto Solano, who plays in England with West Ham, as well as Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves (who at the time also played for Bayern Munich). Pizarro also holds Italian citizenship (his mother being Italian), enabling him to play for Chelsea without a work permit.

Pizarro was assigned the number 14, the same number he wears for Peru, and his former shirt number at Bayern Munich. He succeeded Geremi, now at Newcastle United, as the holder of the shirt number 14 at Chelsea. His Chelsea career got off to a good start, scoring a goal on his debut on the opening weekend of the 07–08 English Premier League season. However, after Jose Mourinho's departure, and the signing of French striker Nicolas Anelka, Pizarro has found himself surplus to requirements by new manager Avram Grant. Pizarro did play an important role in Chelsea progressing to the 4th round of the FA Cup 2008, by contributing to the goal which rebounded off QPR keeper Lee Camp and into the net. He then went on to score the only goal in a match against Birmingham. His lack of goals during the 2007–08 season can be somewhat attributed to most of his appearances coming in the closing minutes of games.

[edit] International career

Claudio Pizarro is a regular for Peru. Pizarro played for Peru in the 2007 Copa América, scoring two goals against Bolivia. He has stated he has no problems with the new head coach Jose del Solar as opposed to Franco Navarro's tenure as the national team head coach.

On December 7, 2007 an investigation on having introduced women and alcohol into the national squad's hotel two days before Peru's away drubbing at the hands of Ecuador (5–1) started running, and has thus been suspended 18 months from the national team starting on the day before the match.^[4] Since Pizarro claimed to be innocent, he started a trial against the Peruvian Football Federation. This action alerted FIFA about the case who warned the player about not taking it to the regular judges or he could face an international ban.^[5]

[edit] Honours

• Bundesliga: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
• German Cup: 2003, 2005, 2006
• FIFA Intercontinental Cup: 2001

[edit] Career stats

All-Time Club Performance (as at 22:43, 31 January 2008 (UTC))

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cup		European Competition		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Chelsea	07–08	21	2	5	0	2	0	28	2
Total		21	2	5	0	2	0	28	2
Bayern Munich	06–07	33	8	2	0	10	4	45	12
	05–06	26	11	5	5	6	1	37	17
	04–05	23	11	5	6	7	4	35	21
	03–04	31	11	4	1	7	0	42	12
	02–03	31	15	6	2	5	1	42	18
	01–02	30	15	4	0	14	4	48	19
Total		174	71	26	14	49	14	249	99
Werder Bremen	00–01	31	19	1	0	5	4	37	23
	99-00	26	10	5	2	9	3	39	15
Total		56	29	6	2	14	7	70	36
Alianza Lima	98–99	22	18					22	18
	97–98	22	7					22	7
Total		44	25					44	25
Deportivo Pesquero	96–97	17	3					17	3
	95–96	25	8					25	8
Total		42	11					42	11
Career Totals		337	138	37	16	65	21	439	175

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Claudio Pizarro career stats at Soccerbase
• Career statistics at National Football Teams
• Official site

v • d • e Chelsea F.C. – current squad 1 Čech • 2 Ivanović • 3 A. Cole • 4 Makélélé • 5 Essien • 6 Carvalho • 7 Shevchenko • 8 Lampard • 9 Sidwell • 10 J. Cole • 11 Drogba • 12 Mikel • 13 Ballack • 14 Pizarro • 15 Malouda • 17 Sinclair • 18 Bridge • 20 Ferreira • 21 Kalou • 22 Ben Haim • 23 Cudicini • 24 Wright-Phillips • 26 Terry • 27 Sahar • 33 Alex • 35 Belletti • 39 Anelka • 40 Hilário • –– Bosingwa • Manager: Vacant