In this sixth episode of Wednesday’s Special, The Writer will bring readers into the life and brief story of a weekly selected footballer. Today, readers will have the chance to meet one of the greatest talents from South America, Juan Roman Riquelme; albeit in words only.
Riquelme is often regarded as a reluctant superstar. He does not search for fame and glamor, unlike most football superstars. And he often looks uninterested on the pitch for most of the time. But his football quality alone is enough to include him in the same bracket as one of the greatest talents football has ever seen. Riquelme is widely known for his exquisite passing ability and his knack of scoring goals from the center of the park. He is now 36 years of age and is still going strong playing in the Argentine league for Argentinos Juniors, the club where he started his fledgling football career.
Rewind back to the year 1992, a young Riquelme
started his career by joining Argentinos Juniors as a youth player. A super
impressive display from midfield made two giants of the Argentine league, Boca
Juniors and River Plate, aware of his existence. The next thing Riquelme knew
at that time was a transfer to Boca Juniors in 1995. Then a year later Riquelme
made his first senior debut aged 18. He scored his first senior goal just two weeks
after his debut. Seven seasons then flew away and a now matured Riquelme had
already helped Boca Juniors won 6 major titles including the league, Copa
Libetadores and Intercontinental Cup. In the year 2000, Riquelme’s brother was
kidnapped and Riquelme himself paid for the ransom. After that he soon decided
to leave Argentina and Barcelona managed to sign him for 11 million. However,
Barcelona manager at that time, Louis van Gaal, didn’t like him much and seldom
let him played. When he did play, he was used as a winger and thus discouraged
him from showing his real potential.
In 2003, Villareal came to the rescue. They signed him on loan for two years, and later bought him permanently. It was at Villareal that the football world really got to see how big Riquelme’s talent is. In 2004/2005 he scored his best ever goals tally of 15 in 35 league appearances and was nominated for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year. That year he helped Villareal achieved a 3rd placed finish in La Liga. Riquelme together with Diego Forlan, Marcos Senna, Juan Pablo Sorin and others played a very good brand of football under the guidance of Manuel Pellegrini. They qualified for the UEFA Champions League the following year and then managed to go for a very respectable placing, which is the semi-final of the competition. Manchester United flop, Diego Forlan rejuvenated his career too by the help of Riquelme at Villareal. In summary, Riquelme’s time at Villareal was a legendary stuff. Villareal was on an absolute high at that time. Both in Spain and Europe as a whole. And they never recovered after Riquelme left and were even being relegated from La Liga in 2011/2012 season.
Riquelme left Spain to return to his beloved Boca Juniors in 2007 for an initial loan but later moved there permanently in 2008. He managed to win Copa Libetadores and the league titles again with Boca Juniors but there were a lot of conflicts between him and his teammates at Boca Juniors. They accused him of lacking passion to play for the club and the feud became public at some points. Then in July 2014, Riquelme decided to return to Argentinos Juniors, perceived to be the last and final stop before his retirement. He was once quoted saying that he never miss playing football anymore and he just want to end it at Argentinos Juniors.
Before The Writer forgets, Riquelme was also once a regular fixture for his national team, Argentina. In all, he managed to play in 51 senior international matches, scoring 17 goals. He was once selected as the national team captain by Alfio Basile but then resigned from the post after receiving heavy criticism whenever he failed to inspire Argentina towards victory. In 2009, Riquelme decided to retire from Argentina’s duty because of a disagreement with coach, Diego Maradona. Riquelme never played for Argentina after that. It is part of a sad ending to this wonderful talent. Wherever or whenever he played before, at his prime, he will always being selected as the Best Player or at least being included in the Team of the Competition. Now, he is just finishing all that he gets left in his locker at Argentinos Juniors before he will finally decide to retire from football for good. Whatever it is, Juan Roman Riquelme will always be remembered for his undoubted talent and footballing ability. He is a legend of football magician and technician. It will be no surprise if the name of Juan Roman Riquelme will be included in any of football fans’ greatest ever starting eleven in the future. That is a legacy he will be leaving…
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