Career
He is known for his strong tackle and excellent defensive capabilities, being a centre-back he had scored numerous goals in his youth career as well as in senior career. He was an undisputed starter on the Schalke 04 U-19 team, and was the captain. He has a great merit considering that at that age group captaincy usually goes to a native-born player.
He went to Football Club Schalke 04 at the age of 16, after playing in the U-17 World Cup in 2005, with Peru as hosts.
He immediately became a cornerstone in defense and an undisputed starter for the U-19 team and scored a large number of goals. Schalke 04"s defense did not concede with Zambrano.
He was present for the first 5 games of the season, until the sixth match for which he was out due to injury. He has been compared with Brazilian defender Lúcio for his style of play and great defense, offense, and speed.
He has played sixteen matches for Schalke, being praised by team mates such as Dario Rodriguez.
On November 10, 2007, he was promoted to the Football Club Schalke 04 first team In 2012, he signed on to play for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. On March 26, 2008, he made his debut for the senior Peruvian National Team in a friendly match against Costa Rica.
Zambrano started the match and scored a goal in the 45th minute.
Zambrano was chosen to participate in the 2011 Copa América, but an injury suffered against Senegal in a friendly game, days before the tournament began, kept him out. On September 11, 2012, Zambrano made his first goal in the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers against Argentina on the 22nd minute, making it a one-goal lead over Argentina.
The game would later end as a tie. goals.