Paolo Guerrero, the Peruvian “predator” who has conquered two continents by scoring goals and wants to broaden his legend in Racing

Tor, in German. Objective, in Spanish and Portuguese. of what he experienced Jose Paolo Guerrero during his nearly two-decade professional career. two hundred twenty nine with the shirts of the Peruvian national team and the six clubs for which he played, in Germany and Brazil, are the presentation letter with which he arrives at Racing for this season. However, there is one number that suggests the 39-year-old forward’s best days are in the past: It’s been 527 days since you last shook the strings of a bow in an official meeting.

“I have to prepare and do a preseason, like everyone else”, assured Guerrero on his arrival in Buenos Aires on Monday. There is another of the great unknowns hovering over the attacker born in Chorrillos, 20 kilometers south of Lima. In the last two years he has given the present in just 36 games, in only six he has played 90 minutes and in 20 he has not even completed a half on the pitch. All against the worrying background of a right knee which has suffered various injuries in recent years.

Argentina will be the third country in which the Predator during his professional career, which developed entirely outside their land. When he was still working in the training departments of Alianza Lima, where he had joined when he was eight years old, was spotted by a Bayern Munich headhunter. In those days another Peruvian, Claudio Pizarro, stood out in the Bavarian team and opened the doors to his compatriots. Guerrero came on for them in September 2002 and later Jefferson Farfán, Carlos Zambrano and Luis Advíncula, among others, would.

In his first year in Germany, Guerrero scored eight goals in 18 games for Bayern’s second team, which played in the fourth division and was led by the legendary Gerd Müller, the top scorer in Bundesliga history (he scored 365). “Gerd loved Paolo very much, he even gave him chocolates for every goal”, he said a few years ago Petronila Gonzáles, mother of the attacker. The sweets gave income, as in the following season he converted 21 times in 24 games and this catapulted him into the main team, in which Martín Demichelis played at the time.

On October 23, 2004, the Peruvian made his first division debut: it was in a 2-0 win against Hansa Rostock. That day he came on 10 minutes into the second half for Iran’s Vahid Hashemian and assisted Mehmet Scholl in doubling up. It was the first of 45 games he played for Bayern, with whom, from a secondary place, he was twice Bundesliga and German Cup champions and with whom he also won the League Cup and German Super Cup.

With the possibilities limited by the presence of strikers such as Dutch Roy Makaay, Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz and his compatriot Pizarro, Guerrero decided in 2006 to move to Hamburg, the team in which he played for six seasons (183 games and 51 goals) and achieved consolidation in Europe. However, he also starred in that time some complicated situations related to his strong temper.

In April 2010, he was suspended for five games and fined €20,000 for throwing a bottle at a spectator who had insulted him after a match against Hannover. And in March 2012 he received an eight-match ban after being sent off against Stuttgart for a vicious foul on goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.

In addition, during his stay in Hamburg he suffered his first serious injury, although it happened during a match for his country’s national team against Venezuela: In September 2009, he suffered a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee.. Finally, after participating in the shooting in Peru, it took him more than a month and a half to return to Germany because the phobia of flying prevented him from boarding a plane. To overcome it, she received the assistance of a psychologist sent by her club.

Despite his good performance, as he was one of the highest paid players in the Hamburg squad and still had a two-year contract left, the striker decided to leave Germany and travel to Brazil to join Corinthians in July 2012, which few days earlier he had become champion of the Copa Libertadores, beating Boca in the final. Thus began a decade of work in that country.

With the Timaothe romance was almost immediate. Especially since the Peruvian was the great architect of obtaining the Club World Cup in December 2012: scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Egyptian Al-Ahly and also scored the only goal in the final against Chelsea by Rafael Benitez. It was the last time a non-European team won that trophy.

Three years were enough for him to become the best foreign scorer in the history of Corinthians (he made 54 in 130 games and thus surpassed Carlos Tevez, who made 46) and the top scorer of that decade for the São Paulo team. In May 2015 he moved to Rio de Janeiro to wear the shirt of another giant: Flamengo.. And in October of that year he was the first Peruvian player to be shortlisted to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or, which ultimately fell to Lionel Messi. Inside Mengão He lived his last years of fullness and celebrated its latest titles: the 2017 Carioca Championship and the 2018 Taça Guanabara.

Alongside his performances in Germany and Brazil, Guerrero has been a mainstay of his country’s team since his debut, aged just 20, on 9 October 2004 in a match which Brazil’s Paulo Autuori-led team lost 1-0 to Bolivia. in La Paz for Germany’s 2006 World Cup qualifiers. His years in the national team coincided with Peru’s resurgence.

With the Albirroja shirt, the forward took part in five editions of the Copa América (he finished second in Brazil 2019 and third in Argentina 2011 and Chile 2015). But undoubtedly the highlight was qualifying for a World Cup, Russia 2018, after 36 years of absence. In any case, the period that has elapsed since the end of the Qualifications and the ecumenical competition has been a via crucis for the Predator.

On November 3, 2017, eight days before the playoff first leg against New Zealand, FIFA suspended him provisionally for one month after a doping control carried out after a match against Argentina at La Bombonera found benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in his sample. As claimed by the player’s defense, it was the result of ingesting coca tea.

This was the first step in a legal dispute that was escalating. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ended up suspending him for 14 months, a penalty that would have prevented him from playing in the World Cup, but a last-minute intervention by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court suspended the penalty and allowed him to participate in the tournament. In that World Cup, Guerrero scored a goal in the last match of group C against Australia, when the team led by Ricardo Gareca had no more chances of qualifying for the round of 16.

Far from his glory days, the last three years of the top scorer’s career in the history of the Peruvian national team (37 in 102 games) have been rather dull. In August 2020, while working for Inter de Porto Alegre, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a match against Fluminense. As a result, he was inactive for seven months.

He returned to play in March 2021, but had to undergo arthroscopy on the same knee in June to check the condition of the joint. He only managed to play a handful of games that year before a new injury in the same area forced him to sideline. Before the end of that year he separated from Inter.

After a semester without a contract, in July 2022 he was presented as a star reinforcement for the lowly Avaí from Florianópolis. “We hope it will be our differential to obtain the points necessary to achieve our goal, which is permanence,” said Júlio César Heerdt, president of the state club of Santa Catarina. But it was only an illusion.

Guerrero wore the black and white shirt for just 427 minutes in 10 games, in which he didn’t score a goal. Only twice has he managed to stay 90 minutes on the pitch. His last match was on October 2, 2022, when he played 22 minutes against Atlético Goianiense. Then another right knee injury prevented him from returning to the field. In November, they parted ways with Avaí, who finished second bottom in the Brasileirão and were relegated to Serie B.

Many times his name has been mentioned as a possible reinforcement of Boca. In the current transfer market, he has been offered to Godoy Cruz and has also been linked to Alianza Lima and Colo-Colo. However, he ended up agreeing with Racing. He now he will have two big challenges: first, taming his right knee and preparing to play; then, meet again with the goal, his old friend. The last celebration of him was 17 months ago, on August 15, 2021, in Inter’s 4-2 victory over Fluminense for the 16th round of the Brasileirão.