Juan Román Riquelme

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Argentine association football player.

Juan Román Riquelme (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan roˈman riˈkelme]; born 24 June 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current president of Boca Juniors. Known for his elegant playing style, passing, vision, creativity, free-kick technique, and ball retention, he is widely considered one of the greatest playmakers of all time. He is a major symbol of the "enganche" figure, a classic attacking midfield role prominent in Argentine football. In 1996, Riquelme made his professional debut at age 18 at Boca Juniors. Under Carlos Bianchi's coaching, Riquelme led Boca Juniors through their most successful era, winning three Argentine Primera División titles, two back-to-back Copa Libertadores titles, and the 2000 Intercontinental Cup, beating Real Madrid in Tokyo. After five seasons, he signed for Barcelona in 2002, where he had a short spell due to his strained relationship with then-manager Louis van Gaal. He was loaned to fellow La Liga club Villarreal, where Riquelme would help the club achieve a third-place league finish in the 2004–05 La Liga and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history in the 2005–06 campaign. He returned to Boca in 2007, winning the 2007 Copa Libertadores as the tournament's MVP and top scorer, in addition to two Primera División titles, one Copa Argentina, and one Recopa Sudamericana. After losing the 2012 Copa Libertadores final, Riquelme left Boca Juniors, only to return six months later following Bianchi's return as manager. He retired in 2015 at Argentinos Juniors, his former youth club, after helping them return to the Primera División in the 2014 season. With the Argentina national team, Riquelme achieved success at youth level, winning the 1997 South American U-20 Championship…

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