Riquelme, Juan Roman

Riquelme is a pupil of the Argentinos Juniors school, however, he has not played a single match for the main staff of this club. At 18, he moved to Boku, instantly became a key player in this club. During the first period of his stay at Bok, he won the Argentine championship three times and the Libertadores Cup twice.

In 2002 he moved to Barcelona, ​​but at that time this team had a mess in the leadership, frequent changes of coaches and presidents, although usually Roman got into the main team. But with the arrival of the club Ronaldinho bet coach Coach Frank Rykardom was made on the world champion. Riquelme went to the modest club “Villarreal”. Largely thanks precisely to Riquelme's “Yellow Submarine” in the mid-2000s. became one of the best European clubs. In the 2004/05 season, “Villarreal” became the third in the Spanish Example and the next season reached the semifinals of the Champions League. Only a penalty not realized by Riquelme in the end of the second leg against London Arsenal did not allow his team to reach the final.

In the summer of 2006, Riquelme became the leader of the Argentina national team at the World Championships in Germany. The Argentine team after the group round was considered one of the main favorites of the tournament. Especially spectacular was the match against the national team of Serbia and Montenegro , won by Albiseleste 6-0. However, in the quarter finals, the Argentines lost in a bitter struggle (again in the penalty shootout) to the hosts of the tournament - the German national team , which eventually took third place.

Gradually, playing in such a modest, although having achieved significant success in recent years, club began to weigh Roman. In early 2007, he returned on loan to his native Boku and spent very successful six months with her. The team confidently performed in the 2007 Libertadores Cup . The apotheosis of the team’s powerful game was the final confrontation with the Brazilian Gremio . The team from Porto Alegre lost to Boke 0: 5 in the sum of two meetings. Riquelme himself scored three goals in the final matches (a goal on the Bomboner and both goals in the return game at the Olympic Monumental ). He was also recognized as the best player in both the tournament and the final. Riquelme took second place in the tournament scorers list - Roman not only gave away filigree passes to his partners, but also scored 8 goals against opponents (only Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas managed to score more).

In the summer of the same 2007, Riquelme once again confirmed his highest class of game - 5 goals in 5 matches of the Roman brought the Argentine national team to the final of the America's Cup. And only a breakdown in the final match against Brazil, in which the Argentines lost 0–3, did not allow the Riquelme team to celebrate success.

At the end of the tournament, they returned to Villarreal, which, according to Argentine experts, did not allow Roman to be officially recognized as the best player in the world. The Spanish club did not trust Riquelme, and Riquelme himself made it clear that he intended to return to the former club - Boca. Meanwhile, in December 2007, Boca, as the winner of the Copa Libertadores, took part in the Club World Cup. For unknown reasons, FIFA refused to allow Riquelme to this tournament, thereby only lowering the level of its own tournament. As a result, the Italian “Milan” beat “Boku” in the KChM final with a score of 4: 2, becoming the first European team that managed to break the hegemony of the South Americans in the main club tournament of the planet.

Since 2008, Roman has become a full-fledged player of the "Genoese". In the 2008 Libertadores Cup , Boca reached the semifinals, where they lost to Fluminense . In the summer of 2008, Juan Roman as part of the Argentine national team became the Olympic champion , being the team captain. In the second half of the year, Roman inspired partners for the next champion title in Argentina. In the “golden” mini-tournament, Boca snatched a victory in Apertura and Riquelme for the fourth time in her career, became the champion of Argentina. In 2008, Riquelme was named the second player in South America after Juan Sebastian Verona and the best player in Argentina.

In November 2008, after joining the national team of Diego Maradona , Riquelme decided to leave the national team, saying that he would not be on the team as long as she was coached by Maradona. Diego commented on the refusal of the midfielder of Boca Juniors to play for the national team under his command:

“This decision touched me to the core. But I do not want the fans to actively discuss this situation. Everyone has the right to choose.

If they want to say something, then I can not do anything with the banners. But I will never quarrel with the fans, especially with the fans of Boca Juniors. ”

Much of 2009, Riquelme was injured.

On August 16, 2010, Riquelme extended his contract with the Boca Juniors club for 4 years.

On January 26, 2015, Riquelme announced the end of his playing career at the age of 36 years ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

Team

Boca Juniors

• Argentina Champion (4) : Ap. 1998 , Cl. 1999 , Ap. 2000 , Ap. 2011
• Libertadores Cup Winner (3) : 2000, 2001, 2007
• Intercontinental Cup Winner : 2000
• South American Recove Owner : 2008

Villarreal

• Intertoto Cup Winner : 2004

Argentina national team

• World Youth Champion (U20): 1997
• Olympic champion: 2008

Personal

• South America Footballer of the Year: 2001
• Best Libertadores Cup player: 2007

• riquelme-web.com.ar
• juanromanriquelme.com.ar
• Statistics in the championship of Argentina