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The Chilean midfielder played a pivotal role when Real visited the Italian capital for the opening leg at the same stage of the competition in 2007-08, cancelling out Raul's early opener as Luciano Spalletti's side went on to win 2-1 before progressing to the quarter-finals 4-2 on aggregate.
Pizarro has now revealed that beating the competition's most successful club that day – on 19 February 2008 – was "special on every level" for him.
“It was a wonderful evening for everyone at the Olimpico that night and particularly special for me,” the 36-year-old recalls. “We beat a team full of stars and I scored an important goal.
“What's more, it was the first time my father had come to the Olimpico to see me play for Roma.”
David, you were a key man in Roma’s 2-1 defeat of Real Madrid in the Champions League in 2008. What can you tell us about the game?
“We produced a great performance. Perhaps Real weren’t on top form but it was still Real Madrid, a team full of great players that were used to aiming to win the Champions League outright. There were a host of star names playing at the Olimpico that night, from Iker Casillas to Fabio Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos, Arjen Robben, Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy. We played fantastically and deserved the win, but obviously it wasn’t easy to secure the result. Real took the lead through Raul, but we did well to keep playing our game – without being affected by them going ahead – and we deservedly managed to turn the result around, scoring either side of half-time. It was a wonderful evening and the Olimpico was packed to the rafters. It’s never easy to beat Real Madrid, and doing so in the Champions League Round of 16 is even tougher.”
You scored to make it 1-1 on the night. How did the goal come about?
“Francesco Totti started the move off midway inside the Real half. He squared it for Amantino Mancini, whose shot was blocked by a defender and spun back towards me on the edge of the box. I smashed it first time, with my right foot. It was a powerful shot, but I was lucky too in the fact that it deflected off Fernando Gago and looped up over Casillas and into the far corner of the net. It was a wonderful goal and an important one for us. It was particularly special for me because my father was at the Olimpico that night and it was the first time he’d seen me play for Roma in the flesh. I couldn’t have asked for more – it was a really special goal on every level.”
How would you describe that Luciano Spalletti team and what was the secret of your win over Real?
“The strength of that Roma side was in the football we played and in our fantastic team spirit. Despite the fact that our squad probably wasn’t as good as Real’s and the other big clubs in the Champions League, we knew that the way we played and the way we implemented our ideas on the pitch meant we could beat anyone. That’s how it went against Real in the Champions League Round of 16 – we played the way we knew best and managed to win both at the Olimpico and the Bernabeu. We were a really tight-knit group and we saw lots of each other off the field too. We were a solid, united bunch. I have to say that I’ve never seen such togetherness in a dressing room in all my career.”
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