Bayern Munich fans might have been denied the chance to celebrate winning the Bundesliga in March by reigning champions Borussia Dortmund’s triumph on Saturday, but the Roten were treated to an absolute goal-fest at the Allianz Arena that saw Claudio Pizarro finish on top of the gluttonous attacking pile.
With one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg with Juventus, Jupp Heynckes sent out a team mixed with regular starters and first-team skirters. Xherdan Shaqiri and Arjen Robben both mesmerised the Bavarian crowd with their performances, but it was the veteran Peruvian’s four goals and two assists which eventually stole the show – highlights of which you can watch right here.
The striker scored his opening goal of the Bundesliga season to put Hamburg 3-0 down, and then doubled his game and season total with a tap-in on the stroke of half-time. Pizarro grew in confidence and scored with a cheeky backheel in the second half before turning his hat-trick into four goals with 22 minutes remaining.
Though Mario Gomez has shown a resurgence in form of late, and Mario Mandzukic has been fantastic since the season commenced last summer, Pizarro once again demonstrated he still has what it takes to steal the limelight.
Goal.com Germany‘s Falko Bloeding summed up the player’s season to date:
“When Claudio Pizarro re-joined Bayern Munich on a free transfer last summer, he knew he would not start many games. With Mario Mandzukic and Mario Gomez, he has fierce competition for only one striker spot in Jupp Heynckes’ team. Nonetheless, the Peru international accepted this challenge and helped Bayern’s squad to become stronger in depth, and Hamburg realised painfully how dangerours ‘Piza’ still is.
“The 34-year-old put in an astonishing performance in only his third start of the season. Not only did he score four (beautiful) goals, he also assisted another two. Now that the season is coming into the final phase, Pizarro could be the secret weapon Bayern did not have last year – something of which Heynckes seems to be well aware: “‘He will help us a lot when the tight matches come and we need a goal-getter. We did not have someone like him in last year’s champions league final.'”