Pizarro takes pride in Italian job

Claudio Pizarro was delighted after helping FC Bayern Münich end an 18-year wait for an away victory against Italian opposition with a 2-0 success at FC Internazionale Milano.

Pizarro opener
Not since a 3-1 win against Inter at the last-16 stage of the UEFA Cup in 1988/89 had the team from Bavaria triumphed against a Serie A club on their travels, but Pizarro's 81st-minute goal was followed by a Lukas Podolski strike in added time to clinch Bayern's second consecutive victory in UEFA Champions League Group B.

'Piece of history'
The significance of the result, which leaves Inter bottom of the section, was not lost on the Peru forward. "We are very happy because we've made a piece of history," Pizarro told uefa.com. "The team hasn't won here for a long time and I'm delighted because it's important to stay top of the group. This victory is very important for our qualification."

Passing football
With Bayern's scalp of the Nerazzurri being preceded by a 4-0 home defeat of FC Spartak Moskva, Felix Magath's side are sitting pretty with six points and look well placed to reach the last 16. The Bundesliga champions will feel they deserved their success, after playing some swift passing football and taking full advantage after Zlatan Ibrahimović and then Fabio Grosso were sent off.

'Physical match'
Pizarro believes Bayern were rewarded for their discipline, saying: "It was a very tough, physical match but we kept trying to play football and stuck to our game plan, which was to pass the ball and take our chances." The 27-year-old feared that his chance had gone on 77 minutes when he glanced Bastian Schweinsteiger's corner just wide of the far post but, having forced his way through a clutch of players, he made amends four minutes later.

'I'm very happy'
With only two seasonal goals to his name before the San Siro trip, Pizarro expressed relief at registering the 12th UEFA Champions League strike of his career. "Scoring is very important for me and I haven't done enough of it recently," he said. "This is my first away goal of the season and I am very happy with it." The scoreline, however, leaves Inter with much to do, though goalkeeper Júlio César is refusing to give up. "It was not one of our best games but I don't think we deserved to lose," said the Brazilian. "Now we have to get nine points from the next three games."

Red card woe
Inter lost Patrick Vieira to a red card in their opening reverse at Sporting Clube de Portugal, and César pointed to the 58th-minute dismissal of Ibrahimović as the turning point here. "It's not easy to play ten against eleven against a team like Bayern because they are very good at keeping possession," the 27-year-old said. "But there's no point having regrets. We simply cannot afford to make more mistakes in the forthcoming games. As our coach said, we have to keep our heads up and focus on the next match."