Pizarro: "We've got to wrap things up in Frankfurt"
Munich - Claudio Pizarro doesn't do things by halves. After netting the third-fastest hat-trick in the history of the UEFA Champions League against LOSC Lille last November, the league's all-time top foreign goalscorer netted four goals for the first time in a Bundesliga fixture as FC Bayern Munich demolished Hamburger SV 9-2 on Saturday.
With his two assists, the Peruvian became only the second player since Dieter Müller in 1977 to have a hand in six goals in a single Bundesliga game, yet his day did not end the way he had hoped it would, as bundesliga.com found out...
Question: Claudio Pizarro, it’s hard to believe but these four goals against HSV were your first of the Bundesliga season...
Claudio Pizarro: When we were warming up, Thomas (Müller) said to me: ‘You’ve got to get a goal today’, so I said: ‘Yes’.
Question: That's quite a bit of pressure...
Pizarro: Yes, I said that to Thomas during the half-time break. I think it’s very important that we won and it’s also good for the fans that we scored so many goals. It was a good game.
Question: To what extent was the match a warm-up for Juventus on Tuesday?
Pizarro: It was a Bundesliga game, but I think it also served as a preparation for Tuesday’s game which gives us confidence. We think we can play another good game on Tuesday.
Question: 'Juve' are of course a different prospect. HSV made scoring easy for you, but it’s going to be the complete opposite against the Bianconeri, isn’t it?
Pizarro: Yes, I think so too. But if we can get a goal, then maybe they will open up a bit at the back. Maybe we can then take advantage of that and get a few more goals. That would be important for the [return] match in Turin.
Question: Italian teams are always tough to play against. They're usually solid in defence...
Pizarro: It’s not going to be easy, but we believe in our quality and I think that we can break the Italian champions down.
Question: Are you and your team-mates glad that you didn’t win the title today? There wouldn’t have been a celebration anyway...
Pizarro: Of course it would have been fantastic if we could have celebrated in our own stadium, but Stuttgart didn’t help us out. Now we’ve just got to wrap things up in Frankfurt.
Question: Was the 9-2 win against Hamburg something of a mini title celebration for your fans?
Pizarro: You could put it that way, yes.
Gregor Nentwig reporting from the Allianz Arena
