Bundesliga
Claudio Pizarro: "This will be my final season"
Bundesliga legend Claudio Pizarro has said that 2019/20 will be his final season in football. The Werder Bremen striker is the oldest Bundesliga goalscorer in history, at 40 years and 227 days, but the time has nearly come for him to hang up his boots.
“I'm feeling quite good, but it's enough now,” Pizarro told a press conference in Bremen on Friday. “This will be my final season, for sure. I want to get into Europe with Werder. Then I would be quite happy.”
Pizarro, though, has proven more than anyone else in the Bundesliga that age truly is just a number. He will turn 41 in October during the 21st season of his professional career, all but one of which have been spent in the German top flight.
The remarkable 472 Bundesliga appearances and 197 goals to his name are still not enough, with the landmark of 200 Bundesliga nets being hit well within reach in the upcoming campaign. And Pizarro is still keen to get on the pitch.
Watch: At least one Bundesliga goal in 21 calendar years for Pizarro!
“I still want to play,” he said. “Sometimes I think to myself that I don’t want this anymore. But at the same time, it is the most important thing to me.”
A legend for both Bremen and Bayern Munich, the Peruvian’s record as the highest scoring foreign player in the Bundesliga history was lost to Robert Lewandowski during 2018/19. The 30-year-old Polish star now stands on 202 strikes in the German top flight.
A six-time Bundesliga champion, six-time DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League winner. Bringing the club who brought him to Germany back into Europe in his final season, though, could be Pizarro’s greatest success.