Year review part III: "Piza" arrives

First Team
Friday, 01.01.2016 / 10:15

From the eventful "Fans' Day" and the emotional last-minute win against Hoffenheim, to one of the most spectacular signings of recent years that saw Werder fans' hearts leap for joy - there was plenty happening at Bremen in the third quarter of the year too.

In the penultimate part of WERDER.DE's look back at 2015, we sum up events from July, August and September.

Hashtag of the moment: #Verhandlungsmasse

Whoever thought that #JunobleibtBremer would be the most extraordinary fan campaign of the year was left mistaken come the start of September. The growing rumour that Pizarro was set to return to Werder once more was the sign for another unique campaign from the supporters. Using the hashtag #Verhandlungsmasse (mass negotiations), Green-Whites fans used Twitter to pose virtual arguments to the Peruvian convincing him to join the club: Bremen was to be renamed Pizarrohausen, Morgan Freeman would cook for him, SVW's home games would take place at the Pizarrostadion am Perudeich, Pizarro would get his own brand of Beck's beer and there was even the prospect of doing a duet with German singer Jan Delay. They were just some of the creative ideas proposed by the Werder community.

Hopes of a third stint at the club looked to be justified on 6th September, when a picture of the Bundesliga's most prolific foreign player at Munich airport appeared on Twitter. That tweet sent the anticipation amongst the Werder fans skyrocketing. Hundreds of people flocked to Bremen airport on Sunday evening, preparing to give "Piza" and unforgettable welcome. Alongside the hashtag #Verhandlungsmasse, users were also tweeting with #Pizarrowatch to keep themselves informed on developments.

The protagonist himself - donning what has since become an iconic purple jumper - was frozen still for a short moment when the sliding door at the arrivals area opened and he saw the huge crowd awaiting him. "My friends asked me afterwards if a rockstar had arrived at the same time," commented Pizarro, before adding: "It showed me just why I had always felt so at home in Bremen."

Story of the moment: Delight and frustration

The summer transfer window once again demonstrated how closely tied delight and frustration can be in football. The Werder fans were over the moon with the arrivals of Anthony Ujah, Aron Jóhannsson and Claudio Pizarro, but they were left disappointed and unhappy at the spontaneous departure of Franco Di Santo. On the "Fans' Day" of all days, the news of the Argentine's upcoming move to Schalke 04 started doing the rounds. Di Santo made use of a clause in his contract and completed the switch to the Royal Blues. The SVW management were also disappointed, but dealt with the striker's transfer in a very open and honest manner.

Director of sport Rouven Schröder used the opportunity of having so many fans at the Weser-Stadion to talk to the supporters on stage. There was no denying that Di Santo's decision had affected the mood, but the fans weren't going to let it spoil their day. There were chants of "Pizarro" after the Argentine's departure had been confirmed - little did they know back on 25th July, that they would get their wish just over a month later.

Game of the moment: Late joy in Sinsheim

It just had to be Claudio Pizarro who played a key role in our highlight game for the third quarter of the year. Who else? Werder went into matchday 4 in Kraichgau carried by the Pizarro euphoria. Just five days after joining Bremen, the Peruvian was in the squad for the trip to 1899 Hoffenheim. It also marked his first appearance in his third spell at the club, as Viktor Skripnik sent him on in the 82nd minute with the score at 1-1. There was rapturous applause from the visiting fans as the striker took his place up front next to Anthony Ujah.

His big moment came in added time. Pizarro brilliantly got a long ball from Santiago Garcia under his spell, worked his way past the TSG defenders and spotted the better-placed Ujah to his left. Following a well-timed pass, the Nigerian was able to slot the ball into the Hoffenheim net to make it 2-1. The icing on the cake for a memorable away day was a third goal added by Zlatko Junuzovic even deeper into stoppage time.

Number of the moment: 700,844

700,844 - that is the number of spectators at Bremen's home games in the whole of 2015. That is an average of 41,226 fans per fixture at the Weser-Stadion, meaning it was at almost 98% capacity for every matchday in the past year.

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