Claudio Pizarro’s farewell game was a big reunion with many familiar faces. It was one last big declaration of love for the Werder legend.
So they all ran into the Weser Stadium one after the other. Everyone that Claudio Pizarro had invited to play football with him one last time on the pitch. Many former Werder players received a warm welcome from the 42,000 Werder fans in the stands. But there were some who greeted her with a particularly warm cheer.
Of course, they sang “Ailton, oh oh” for their favorite ball lightning, they celebrated Max Kruse’s return loudly and “Le Chef” Johan Micoud also received particularly thunderous applause. The coaches Florian Kohfeldt and Thomas Schaaf, whose chapters at Werder didn’t end quite so happily, were also greeted frenetically by the fans.
“Pizarro, oh oh!” choruses
Claudio Pizarro came onto the field with a big smile – in the end he fought back tears.
And then came the man they had been waiting for for weeks and whom they love more than anyone else in Bremen: Claudio Pizarro. With his contagious mischievous grin, the almost 44-year-old ran onto the lawn and the perceived temperature rose by 20 degrees on this cloudy day in Bremen.
The rewritten hit “Volare” by the Gipsy Kings, which they have been singing for Pizarro in the Weser Stadium since he first moved to the Weser at the age of 20, boomed out of the loudspeakers. “Pizarro, oh oh,” the blissful cheering just didn’t want to stop.
“One of the greatest players Werder have ever had”
As a farewell, Claudio Pizarro (left) received two framed jerseys from Managing Director Hubertus Hess-Grunewald.
Then the managing directors Klaus Filbry and Hubertus Hess-Grunewald presented him with two framed jerseys with the warm words: “We say goodbye to you as one of the greatest players that Werder has ever had and one of the greatest players that ever existed.” However, the Werder bodies could not bring themselves to make Pizarro an honorary captain on this occasion.
But nothing could have conjured up a smile from Claudio Pizarro’s face that day. Three teams, three times 30 minutes and the guest of honor first played with the Amigos – and thus against his strike partner Ailton. The “Pizza Express” was blown up. Sounds funny, it was. Rascal Pizarro scored directly in the second minute, but Kugelblitz, who has preserved his fighting weight from professional times, immediately responded with full steam. Cross pass from Zlatko Junuzovic and Ailton made it 1-1.
The “Pizza Express” reunited
Ailton came, saw and, of course, scored for Werder.
Beer, bratwurst and Pizarro – green and white bliss reigned in the stands of the Weser Stadium. The classic “Pull Bayern’s lederhosen” could finally be smashed fervently again, the Werder world was fine. Especially when the “Pizza Express” was finally reunited in the third and final game between Bayern and Bremen.
When Pizarro finally scored in the 16th minute, also in Werder jersey with the number 14, the fans exploded. For a Bayern penalty, Pizarro then swapped goalkeeper gloves with Hans-Jörg Butt and let the keeper compete against him. But he sent a soft shot into Pizarro’s arms. Then came the final minute at 7:25 p.m. and Pizarro left the pitch to a standing ovation from the 42,000 fans. Now it was really over. And the applause erupted once again as warmly as a cozy blanket they wanted to wrap him in. And then the man with the sunny smile had to shed a few tears as he did the last lap of honor through the Weser Stadium.
“It doesn’t get any better. I think it was the perfect ending. I’ll miss you all. All I can say is thank you. I feel at home here. I’m so happy that I played my last game here” ( Claudio Pizarro)
The results:
Werder amigos 2:2 (with goals by Pizarro, Ailton, Füllkrug, Eggestein)
Bayern amigos 4:4 (with goals from Linke, Marin, Pizarro, Gomez, Ujah, Pizarro, Valdez)
Werder Bavaria 2:2 (with goals from van Buyten, Pizarro)
Team SV Werder Bremen:
Tim Wiese, Christian Vander, Naldo, Sebastian Prödl, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Torsten Frings, Clemens Fritz, Aaron Hunt, Frank Baumann, Philipp Bargfrede, Zlatko Junuzovic, Tim Borowski, Peter Niemeyer, Johan Micoud, Daniel Jensen, Ailton, Markus Rosenberg, Niclas Füllkrug, Marco Bode, and Dieter Eilts
Coach Thomas Schaaf
Team Claudio’s Amigos:
Felix Wiedwald, Pascal Borel, Mikael Silvestre, Sebastian Boenisch, Santiago Garcia, Johannes Mösmang, Baier, Felix Kroos, Maximilian. Eggestein, Jurica Vranjes, Diego Pizarro, Joko Winterscheidt, Marko Marin, Max Kruse, Anthony Ujah, Nelson Valdez, Fin Bartels, Max von der Groeben
Coach Florian Kohfeldt
Team Bayern Munich:
Hans-Jörg Butt, Daniel van Buyten, Karsten Linke, Contento, Piotr Trochowski, Arjen Robben, Marcel Witeczek, Owen Hargreaves, Markus Schupp, Andreas Ottl, Mario Gomez, Giovanne Elber, Harald Dax, Carsten Lakies, Philipp Lahm
Coach Michael Henke
