"Football magician" Juan Román Riquelme (born June 24, 1978 in San Fernando de La Buena Vista, Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a former Argentine men's professional footballer who plays as a forward. Riquelme has won three Copa Libertadores titles, one Toyota Cup, four Argentine Football Spring League titles, one Argentine Football Autumn League title, four Argentine Football Autumn League titles, and four individuals have been elected Argentine Footballer of the Year, and in 2001 he was awarded the South American Footballer of the Year. On January 26, 2015, Riquelme announced his retirement, and today I will take you to look back at the legendary Argentine star!
Born into a commoner family, Riquelme has a family of 10 children, and as the eldest, he naturally has more responsibilities. The family environment leads to Riquelme's strong sense of responsibility, but due to long-term pressure, his personality is extremely introverted. And this also laid the foundation for Riquelme's style of football – elegant and steady. While training soccer in the junior class of the Argentine Youth Club, he once hid in the locker room and did not dare to come out, so that he missed the day's training. It was shortly after Riquelme arrived at the training course, and he huddled alone in the corner, fearful for hours, until everyone else was gone after the training was over.
But the introverted teenager eventually walked out of the dressing room and practiced the pitch. He always practiced hard in this way, and finally practiced the footwork beyond ordinary people. It seems that introverted personality is not a bad thing for Riquelme, who eventually focused all his energy on practicing and he is more focused on football than others. There are also some fans who believe that Riquelme's introverted personality is also closely related to his later excellent organization. The line of the ball he passes is very clear, accurate, tricky, varied, and always just right to create a good, even excellent, offensive opportunity for his teammates. Therefore, Riquelme has also won the fans such a reputation - "football magician".
In addition to his reputation as a football magician, Riquelme also has a nickname that fans love: Romi. Romy is a variation of his name Roman, simple and catchy, and even the media often refers to him as such. His teammates called him even more so, and although he has not changed his introverted and non-verbal nature to this day, he has a good relationship with everyone. On the pitch, he has a particularly strong sense of the big picture, never boring to carry the ball and pass the ball. He always finds the best teammate in his field of vision and passes the ball through without error.
No teammate will blame him alone, all the teammates in a good position can always get his proper pass, and everyone likes Romi. If there is any drawback to introversion, it is that the press can't get any long talk out of Riquelme's mouth, and it's good that a hard-working journalist can ask only a few words from him. Even when it was finally possible to fly across the Atlantic ocean to Barcelona, Argentine and Spanish reporters did not ask much from his mouth.
2002 was the most glorious year for Boca Youth, a year in which the team won the Treble. League, Copa Libertadores and Toyota Cup. In the Toyota Cup, Riquelme's amazing performance shocked european football, and the "Galaxy Battleship" Real Madrid can be pulled off the horse, which shows the superb technology of Riquelme. At the end of the year, Riquelme was crowned in honor, and the glory of america's best player belonged to him. In the 2001–02 season, Riquelme made 22 appearances for Boca Juniors in the Spring and Autumn Leagues of Argentine Football, scoring 10 goals in honor of The Argentine Footballer of the Year 2001.
Such an outstanding performance is not destined to stay in the Americas alone, and in July 2002 Riquelme transferred from Boca Juniors to FC Barcelona for a transfer fee of around £7 million. Riquelme said something heartfelt before leaving for Barcelona because he was agitated; after arriving in Spain, he said only a few clichés, leading the Spanish reporter to say that he was nervous. In fact, Riquelme is such a person, once on the football field, he becomes less nervous. Nervousness remained in his teenage years, and he had become a master on the green field.
The "football magician" eventually used his "magic" on the green field to go from Boca youth in Argentina to the distant Barca, and then to Villarreal. In the "Yellow Submarine", he became the darling of the "Love Song Stadium". At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he won the gold medal with the team. Surrounded by little brothers such as Messi and Aguero, Ricard May, wearing the No. 10 shirt, smiled brightly. In any case, Riquelme is synonymous with the most elegant on the pitch, and as the last classical striker, this type of player is rare in football now.