LEGENDARY PLAYERS IN THE BUNDESLIGA

WHILE the Bundesliga is renowned for producing some of the world’s most exciting young talent, this goes hand in hand with a select group of experienced players who seemingly defy age.

Their influence on the Bundesliga’s rising stars is crucial to their development and therefore considered an important component of the league’s success story.

Claudio Pizarro recently etched his name in Bundesliga history by becoming the oldest Bundesliga goal scorer. At the age of 40 years, four months and 13 days, he struck in Werder Bremen’s 1-1 draw with Hertha Berlin, 7097 days after opening his account for Die Grün-Weißen in a 5-0 win over Kaiserslautern.

The Peru legend has scored at least one goal in 21 consecutive calendar years, and his 195 strikes mean he is still the most prolific foreign goalscorer of all time.

The Peruvian forward spent much of his career at Bayern Munich, where he had the honour of playing alongside two other veterans who continue to set the Bundesliga alight – the famed “Robbery”: Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.

When Ribery joined Bayern in 2007, the iPhone was just being launched and the only thing smart about phones was their ability to connect people – by voice or text – without cable, and an unknown Venus Williams was winning Wimbledon as one of the lowest seeds ever to do so,.

As his 36th birthday approaches, ‘Le Roi of Bavaria’ continues to be one of the trickiest wingers to handle. Even if he wins a recordbreaking ninth Bundesliga title in May, it may not prove to be his last either.

The other half of ‘Robbery’ has already confirmed this is his final season at Bayern, and while it is one which is proving emblematic of Robben’s time in Germany – with injuries keeping him off the field for far too long – when he is on the pitch, nobody can cope with his trademark technique.

Meanwhile, nine years separated Makoto Hasebe’s first title in German football – a Bundesliga crown with Wolfsburg in 2009 – and his second in the DFB Cup last season.

And Borussia Dortmund fullback Lukasz Piszczek may be 33, but he continues to rank as one of the fastest players in the division.

Salomon Kalou, 33, is approaching 100 caps for the Ivory Coast, and he too furthers the argument that age in the Bundesliga is no more than a number.