David Pizarro

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David Pizarro

Personal information
Full name	David Marcelo Pizarro Cortés
Date of birth	11 September 1979 (1979-09-11) (age 30)
Place of birth	Valparaíso, Chile
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder,Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Roma
Number	7
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1997–1998	Santiago Wanderers	041 0(3)
1999–2005	Udinese	117 (14)
2001	→ Universidad de Chile (loan)	006 0(1)
2005–2006	Internazionale	029 0(3)
2006–	Roma	098 0(8)
National team
1999– 2006	Chile	036 0(2)
Honours Competitor for  Chile Men's Football Bronze 2000 Sydney Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 May 2008. † Appearances (Goals).

David Marcelo Pizarro Cortés (born 11 September 1979 in Valparaíso) is a Chilean international football player, who was a member of the national squad competing at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He currently plays for Serie A club Roma.

He usually plays as a deep lying playmaker but is often deployed further forward. He has outstanding vision, further helped with accurate passing.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Pizarro started his career as a playmaking midfielder with the Santiago Wanderers in Valparaiso, Chile.

Pizarro had his first shot at European football with Udinese in Serie A. Then he had a short but successful loan spell with South American team Universidad de Chile where he debuted at the Copa Libertadores.

He experienced pretty much success with Udinese under the guidance of coach Luciano Spalletti.

[edit] Internazionale

Pizarro signed a four year contract with Internazionale on 14 July 2005, for €12m and 50% of the rights of Goran Pandev. At the time, Pizarro claimed that he would like to retire in the Nerazzurri shirt.^{[citation needed]} However, he could hardly break into the starting XI of the Milan club.

During his only season with Internazionale, Pizarro won the Italian championship (due to the aftermath of the Italian football scandal, known as Calciopoli), a Super Coppa and a Coppa Italia.

[edit] Roma

In August 2006, he accepted a transfer to Scudetto rivals Roma for €6.5m in a co-ownership deal. ^[1], reuniting with former Udinese boss Luciano Spalletti, now in charge of the capital club. Following the success of the 2006-2007 season for Roma, which saw the team get to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, finishing second in Serie A, and defeating former club Inter 7-4 on aggregate to win the Coppa Italia Roma announced on 20 June 2007 that it would pay €5.75m to Inter over the next three seasons for its remaining share of Pizarro, who had played an important role in the club's successes. While at Roma, Pizarro has been used as a deep-lying playmaker alongside Daniele De Rossi in the center of the AS Roma midfield. Pizarro signed a new three-year contract with Roma in October, 2009.^[2]

[edit] International career

After failing to qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Pizarro said he would be retiring from international play. There were two main reasons for his decision: he disliked the seriousness of ex-coach Juvenal Olmos and the ex-president of the association Reinaldo Sánchez.^{[citation needed]} The main reason why he decided to quit the national team was due to the players. He believed the players on the national team played solely to gain popularity. He also claimed he wished to spend more time with his family.

In early 2009, Pizarro said that he missed playing international football.

[edit] Honours

[edit] National Team

•  Chile
  • Olympic Games: in Sydney (2000)

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2008)

Pizarro's nickname is el "Peq", short for the Spanish word pequeño, meaning small, a nickname given to the player a number of years ago.

[edit] References

v • d • e Chile squad – 1999 Copa América 1 Marcelo Ramírez • 2 Palacios • 3 Miguel Ramírez • 4 Rojas • 5 Margas • 6 Reyes • 7 Parraguez • 8 Acuña • 9 Zamorano • 10 Sierra • 11 Salas • 12 Tapia • 13 Vargas • 14 Cartes • 15 Villarroel • 16 Aros • 17 Núñez • 18 González • 19 Valencia • 20 Estay • 21 Contreras • 22 Pizarro • Coach: Acosta

v • d • e Chile squad – 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalists 1 N.Tapia • 2 Álvarez • 3 Maldonado • 4 Henríquez • 5 Contreras • 6 Reyes • 7 González • 8 Pizarro • 9 Zamorano • 10 Arrué • 11 Navia • 12 H.Tapia • 13 Núñez • 14 Tello • 15 Ibarra • 16 Olarra • 17 Ormazábal • 18 di Gregorio • 19 Rojas • 20 Oroz • Coach: Acosta