Claudio Pizarro

Claudio Miguel Pizarro Bosio (born 3 October 1978 in Callao, Peru) is a Peruvian football forward. Pizarro is signed for Chelsea of the English Premier League. He also plays for the Peru national team, for which he has 56 caps.

Club careers

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 twenty two, Pizarro was sold by Deportivo to Peruvian top division club Alianza Lima, with whom he made his top-flight debut.

Alianza Lima

Pizarro scored 25 goals over two seasons with Alianza Lima and was part of the Alianza team that reached second position in the Torneo Apertura of Peru in 1999 (Universitario de Deportes was the champion). Shortly after Alianza's second position, Pizarro was sold to German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. Later that year, he earned his first cap for the national team of Peru.

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 2000-01 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 7 June 2001.
 

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 04 (the second date of the Bundesliga 2001–2002).

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 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 20 May 2007 Bayern Munich announced Pizarro would be leaving the club.

Chelsea

 On 1 July 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 $5.1 million per year. He is the first Peruvian 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 played in England with Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham United, 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 José Mourinho's departure, and the signing of French striker Nicolas Anelka, Pizarro has found himself surplus to requirements by the then 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.

Werder Bremen

On 15 August 2008 he was loaned until the end of the season to Werder Bremen. Soon after the announcement that Pizarro would be joining the team, a large group of Werder Bremen fans lined up to buy the new Pizarro jersey showing that Pizarro is still appreciated in Bremen, 7 years after leaving the club. He has been assigned the number 24 jersey and has been decisive and important for the club, scoring many goals.

Pizarro's role has been fundamental in the qualification of Werder to the UEFA Final helping score goals and eliminate teams such as AC Milan, Hamburg FC among others.

International career

 Claudio Pizarro has been a regular for Peru since 1999, and was the captain succeeding Nolberto Solano. In the Copa América 2004 when playing for the Peruvian National team he suffered a fractured skull, when he took an elbow to the head in an on-field collision during a 3-1 win over Venezuela which forced him out of the Copa America and required extensive surgery in Germany. He was not able to play for over three months after the incident.

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 7 December 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 Pizarro has thus been suspended 18 months from the national team starting on the day before the match. 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.

On 3 July 2008, after an investigation and a review of the facts, the suspension was changed to only three months (from the date of appeal in April 2008) and 10,000$ fine. Pizarro served the 3 month ban.

On 17 April 2009, Pizarro won a court victory over his national federation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a $10,000 fine imposed on Pizarro by the Peruvian football association after the alleged November 2007 incident. "The facts put forward by (the federation) in relation to Pizarro were not supported by concrete evidence," sport's highest court said in a statement.

Pizarro expressed his satisfaction with the final result. He explained: "I am very satisfied and feel vindicated, Pizarro said. "My honor has been restored. My family and friends have always stood by me and knew that these were all just lies that were being spread about me. But this verdict will now also give certainty to everyone who had doubts that I have always told the truth.