Bundesliga Veteran Claudio Pizarro Continues Remarkable Scoring Run After First Goal of 2018

Veteran Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro is still scoring goals at the age of 39 and netted his first of 2018 at the weekend when Köln were beaten 3-2 by Stuttgart.

Understandably, Pizarro is not a regular anymore, but his consolation strike in that game means he has now scored a Bundesliga goal in every single one of the last 20 calendar years, a testament to his quality and longevity to be able to keep going this long.

The run stretches all the way back to 1999 when a teenage Pizarro first arrived in Europe from his native Peru, where he had been playing for local powerhouse Alianza Lima.

Pizarro was at Werder Bremen back then and scored on his full Bundesliga debut in a win over Kaiserslautern. He then scored a hat-trick in the very next game in a 7-2 victory against Wolfsburg and finished his debut season in Germany with 10 league goals in 25 appearances.

(You may also be interested in 'Netflix & Skill: 7 Football Movies, Series & Documentaries to Watch This Year')

Alexander Hassenstein/GettyImages

After just two seasons in Bremen, Pizarro was snapped up by Bayern Munich, joining fellow South American forwards Giovane Elber, Paulo Sergio and Roque Santa Cruz in Bavaria.

The Callao-native scored consistently if not prolifically for Bayern, only failing to manage double figures in the Bundesliga in his final season with the club in 2006/07.

After that, Pizarro signed for Chelsea on a free transfer and his scoring run in Germany came under threat. But a failure to establish himself in the Premier League saw the striker return to former club Werder Bremen following just one season. And having last scored in the Bundesliga for Bayern in May 2007, he scored in August 2008 for Bremen to pick up where he had left off.

Alexander Hassenstein/GettyImages

Pizarro continued to score for Bremen until when he rejoined Bayern for three more years, before returning to Bremen for a third spell in the summer of 2015. After just a single Bundesliga goal in 2017, he was released last summer and wound up signing with Köln.

To date, the veteran has scored 191 Bundesliga goals. That tally stands at 327 in total for club and country in a professional career that first began way back in 1996.