Claudio Pizarro came on with eight minutes remaining and played a pivotal role in Werder Bremen’s 3-1 Bundesliga victory at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in his third debut for the club on Sunday.
With the score tied at 1-1, Pizarro set up Anthony Ujah to give Bremen the lead in stoppage-time before Zlatko Junuzovic beat the Hoffenheim goalkeeper at the near post for his second goal.
Junuzovic opened the scoring just before the break, only for halftime substitute Eduardo Vargas to equalize four minutes after the restart. It was the Chile midfielder’s first Bundesliga goal.
Photo: AFP
Pizarro, who rejoined Bremen for his third stint after fulfilling his contract with Bayern Munich, came on in the 82nd minute and eluded two defenders to set up Ujah for his team’s second goal.
“We signed Claudio for exactly these situations, not only to sell his jerseys. He brought an emotional impulse [into the team],” Bremen coach Viktor Skripnik said.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored the winner as Schalke 04 defeated FSV Mainz 05 2-1 at home in the late game.
The Dutch forward missed a penalty early on, thwarted in the fourth minute by a great save from Loris Karius. It was Huntelaar’s fourth consecutive missed penalty.
Joel Matip put Schalke in front with a header from former Mainz player Johannes Geis’ corner in the 37th minute, five minutes before Yunus Malli equalized from a rebound after Christian Clemens’ effort hit the post.
Huntelaar then atoned for his earlier miss in the 61st minute when he beat Karius from a narrow angle and scored inside the far corner.
Breitenreiter asked for patience with his young Schalke side.
“If we’re given the time to develop, if young players don’t become too big, too soon, then we’ll really progress. Of that I’m certain,” said Breitenreiter, whose side moved up to fifth.
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