It could have proven the start of another glut of goals when Claudio Pizarro broke through with mere seconds played and then saw the very first chance of the game bounce away off the inside...
It could have proven the start of another glut of goals when Claudio Pizarro broke through with mere seconds played and then saw the very first chance of the game bounce away off the inside...
It could have proven the start of another glut of goals when Claudio Pizarro broke through with mere seconds played and then saw the very first chance of the game bounce away off the inside of the far upright. Instead of what could have been the goal to open the floodgates though, the close call quickly lulled the Green-Whites into a false sense of security and proved the beginning of a day two forget for Claudio Pizarro, who was to hit the post twice on the day as well as prove the centre of attention in both the first and last minute.
The Peruvian striker was to find himself in the thick of the action again in the final minute, but for a less positive incident. Pizarro reacted to the provocation of his opponent with a slap to the cheek and was duly shown the red card for his troubles. The incident was the result of a challenge in the penalty area, under which Pizarro appeared to be felled, but referee Winkmann, who had been very fussy in his decision making up to that point, saw no foul: “In that scene I was clearly shoved to the ground. Suddenly there were three or four Karlsruhe players around me and I reacted badly to that. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I was a little too hot headed,” admitted the striker.
General manager Klaus Allofs made it clear that the front man let his team mates down with more than just the chances that went a begging: “When you are dissatisfied then there is a tendency towards ill-discipline. That’s the only way to explain such a reaction,” remarked the former striker, who demands more composure: “No matter what goes on beforehand, you have to deal with it differently. Otherwise you only disadvantage your own team.”
