Juan Roman Riquelme: on & off the pitch

2000, (22 years old JRR), Primera League, vs Velez Sarsfield, home

1 assist;
2 goals vs top goalkeeper (Jose Luis Chilavert)

2007, (29 years old JRR), Copa America, Quarterfinal, vs Peru

1 assist;
2 goals

2008, 30 years old JRR, Olympic, Semifinal, vs Brazil

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& Good day to the rest

2005, 27 years old JRR, Champions League, 3rd Round Qualifying, vs Everton, 2nd leg, home

Always a pleasure.

futbol wrote:Always a pleasure.

I feel happy to heard that you enjoy it.

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& Good day to the rest

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& Good day to the rest

Boca legend Riquelme shakes up club’s elections

Dynasty first formed when Macri came to the Xeneize presidency in 1995 is under threat, after retired playmaker jumps into club politics.

soon to be ex-President Mauricio Macri thought that the worst had already passed for him in Argentina’s nightmare 2019, he was sorely mistaken.

The Cambiemos leader has already seen his re-election bid fail and the behemoth, crucial Buenos Aires Province fall back into Peronist hands over the last month; now he risks seeing his allies lose control of his beloved Boca Juniors.

In the Bombonera, as in Argentina, the parallels are impossible to avoid. A mercurial figure whose every public appearance invites comment, who makes the headlines with every word that comes out of their mouth, boosting the opposition with their presence not as a presidential challenger, but further down the list. Just as Cristina Fernández de Kirchner placed in check the entire Macri administration with her endorsement of Alberto Fernández, so has the unique Juan Román Riquelme made his move, accepting the second vicepresidential slot on a ticket headed by former chief Jorge Amor Ameal. Boca’s elections just got very interesting, indeed.

‘THE FOOTBALL SIDE’

“After the final in Madrid, my mind was changed because my son Agustín asked me to go back to the club,” Riquelme told Fox Sports in an explosive interview on Wednesday. “I hope I can help the institution to win again and Agustín to celebrate once more.”

He went on: “Clearly I am not ready to be president right now, but we will see in four years, and both Jorge and Mario [Pergolini, first vice-presidential candidate] will help me in that sense. If the people vote for us, I will take care of the football side.”

That last comment could not fail to hit its mark. First under Macri, and for the last eight years under Daniel Angelici, Boca have consolidated their position as Argentina’s biggest football powerhouse. No other side – not even River Plate – comes close to matching the revenues or budget surplus generated by the Xeneize machine, a factor that has allowed the club to spend a small fortune on squad improvements in the quest for glory.

But those encouraging account numbers are no substitute for titles, and that is where Angelici has fallen short. The burly ex-bingo hall impresario –and Macri’s alleged wheelerdealer in the murky world of the Argentine justice system – told fans in 2011 to “have your passport ready. We’ll take care of the rest,” an allusion to an imminent return to success in the Copa Libertadores and globe-trotting adventures competing for the Club World Cup.

Reality, though, has fallen short of expectations. Boca have failed to break a Copa drought which stretches back to that Riquelme-inspired campaign of 2007, falling short twice in the semi-final and, most painfully, losing to their arch-rivals last year on the unfa milia r stage of Madrid’s Bernabeu.

While River gear up for what could be their third Libertadores title in five years today against Flamengo, the Xeneize can only watch on from afar, while internal politics dominates club headlines.

NO BINARY CHOICE

December 8’s elections cannot be boiled down, as some might wish, to a simple Macri/ anti-Macri binary choice. Media personality Pergolini, for one, has been vocal in his support of the current presidency over the last four years, while Ameal was his chosen successor in 2007 upon taking up the post of Buenos Aires City mayor and leaving the Bombonera hotseat.

Indeed, up until last week Riquelme was in active talks with figures across the Boca arc, including Angelici and his anointed heir Christian Grimaudo. But should the club legend help Ameal across the line – by no means guaranteed given the immense resources at the disposal of the incumbent administration – it would indeed signal the end of an era in the south of Argentina’s capital.

A dynasty that was formed when Macri first came to the presidency way back in 1995 and oversaw Boca’s most successful period in history is now creaking, and might just go the same way as Argentina and Buenos Aires Province before the year is out.

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& Good day to the rest

Riquelme beats Maradona
as Boca Juniors elect new president

Ticket headed by Jorge Ameal wins 52.8 percent of the vote from Boca's 84,000 members, bringing legendary playmaker into the Xeneize's hierarchy.

Former Argentina playmaker Juan Román Riquelme has won a three-way battle with bitter rival Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta after his group won the elections at Boca Juniors, striking a big blow against his old foe Maradona.

The list headed by Jorge Ameal, who was club president between 2008 and 2011, won 52.8 percent of the vote from Boca's 84,000 members, bringing Riquelme into the 33-time Argentine champions' hierarchy.

The 41-year-old stood alongside Ameal as prospective second vice-president and helped see off the faction supported by Maradona and outgoing president Mauricio Macri, which was led by Christian Gribaldo and only gathered 30.6 percent of the vote.

The list supported by Batistuta came in a distant third with 16.1 percent.

"It was a big party. Our fans voted for the love of the club colours, I'm satisfied," said Riquelme after his side's victory.

There has been bad blood between the pair since Riquelme snubbed Maradona, then Argentina's coach, by refusing to come out of retirement for the 2010 World Cup, making it clear the refusal was personal.

Maradona, who is a hero in Argentina but won little with Boca, warned fans against voting for Riquelme's faction, saying results would worsen on the pitch.

There was also a concerted effort by the previous club administration, backed by Macri, to block out Riquelme's presence in the campaigning.

A photo showing him wearing the Boca number 10 was banned from the ballot paper, and the club warned fans ahead of election day that anyone wearing a Riquelme T-shirt would not be allowed to vote at the club's La Bombonera stadium.

However Riquelme's support was key to Ameal's victory as a highly successful playmaker for the capital city club.

He scored three times in the 5-0 aggregate win over Grêmio to win their last Copa Libertadores in 2007, Riquelme's third for the club and Boca's sixth overall.

Boca reached the Libertadores final again last year only to lose to fierce rivals River Plate in a controversial final that saw the second leg moved to Madrid following fan trouble. River also eliminated Boca in this year's semi-finals.

The new board's priority will be to bring back the international lustre that Riquelme experienced as a player for one of South America's biggest clubs.

The loss was second defeat for Macri in less than two months. He was Boca president from 1995 to 2006 and used that as a springboard to nationwide political success.

He became president of Argentina in 2015 as the head of Cambiemos, but his rule will end on December 10 after losing October's presidential elections to Peronist leader Alberto Fernandez.

Alfaro resigns as club coach

Gustavo Alfaro on Sunday night announced his resignation as Xeneize coach, after Boca slumped to a  1-0 defeat against Rosario Central in the Superliga.

Prior to the match, Alfaro had already talked about the "end of a process" and after the defeat he insisted that "I'm going quietly, it was a difficult year.

Alfaro's position was already in jeopardy after Boca lost the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores to arch-rivals River Plate. Since then, the club have been in poor form.

Alfaro arrived at Boca in January earlier this year, replacing Guillermo Barros Schelotto

In his time with the club, Alfaro led Boca for 50 games, with a balance of 27 wins, 16 draws and just 7 losses.

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They voted in the president that ruined them economically

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The highlights of his performance
during farewell match
for Diego Forlan
(28-12-2019),

when he was already 41 years old (retired).

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& Good day to the rest

Boca Juniors:
Tévez goal secures title win as River Plate draw

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The reactions from River fans were funny to watch

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Why so Many Brazilians Are Named
After Argentinian Legend Juan Roman Riquelme

MARCUS ALVES
FEBRUARY 13, 2020

"[Riquelme] treated the ball with such kindness that it looked after him all over the pitch, with the humility of a dog kissing his feet."
Brazilian 1970 World Cup winner Tostao.

"If we have to travel from point A to point B, everyone would take the six-lane highway and get there as quickly as possible. Everyone, except Riquelme. He would choose the winding mountain road, that takes six hours, but that fills your eyes with scenes of beautiful landscapes."
Former Argentina and Real Madrid star Jorge Valdano.

"I enjoyed football to the maximum. I hope the people have enjoyed it alongside me. I tried to have a good time."
Juan Roman Riquelme.

There is a famous saying in South America that "Brazilians love to hate Argentinians, while Argentinians hate to love Brazilians," but when it comes to Juan Roman Riquelme, stereotypes and conventions rarely apply.

The former Argentina international became a footballing legend during two spells at Boca Juniors, in between a dazzling spell in Spain for Barcelona and especially Villarreal in the mid-2000s.

Riquelme's unique, casual brilliance was a perfect example of jogo bonito (the beautiful game), but he never represented a Brazilian team in his career. Instead, fans in the country only ever got to watch him do damage to their teams.

And yet, take a look at the team sheets from the recent Copa Sao Paulo and you will see that, six years since his retirement, Riquelme's name still echoes all around Brazilian football...literally.

Attracting crowds of 10,000 fans, scouts from Europe's big guns and powerful agents, the Copa Sao Paulo opens the curtain to the football season in Brazil every January. It's the country's premier youth tournament, but it's also widely regarded as its most democratic.

This season's edition featured 127 teams from every corner of the continent-sized nation, pitching Brazilian giants against barely-heard-of minnows over three weeks across the state of Sao Paulo.

With no top-flight matches drawing attention, the Copinha, as it is affectionately known, is the main source of domestic football on TV in January.

For many players, the U20 competition is seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get themselves into the limelight and, with some luck, earn a lucrative move.

Rewind a year, and Gabriel Martinelli found himself in that very position, making headlines with Brazilian third-tier club Ituano; now he's bagging goals for Arsenal in the Premier League.

The Brazilian wonderkid is just the latest talent to successfully take a path that was also followed by the likes of Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino, Casemiro and Marquinhos.

However, with over 3,000 teenagers hoping to achieve the same goal, it's not easy to stand out.

Riquelme Sousa Silva was among those who impressed this season, netting six goals in five games, including a hat-trick, to help Atletico Goianiense record their best-ever campaign in the Copinha.

Yet, as he had somehow been anticipating, most of the questions he took afterwards had nothing to do with his killer instinct inside the box.

"They were mostly about my name," he chuckles, explaining why he was christened after the Argentinian former midfielder.

"It was because of my uncle—he was a huge fan of Boca Juniors around the time I was born [in 2001], and then, one night, they say they were watching this Boca match and he asked my father if he could name me after Riquelme. My father accepted, even though he didn't know much about him and wasn't really into football.

"My mother had other plans for me, but eventually she consented too."

Raised in Aguiarnopolis, a countryside town in Tocantins state with a population of just over 5,000, Atletico's 18-year-old striker says he had never met any other Brazilians with the same name.

He wouldn't have had to look far in Copa Sao Paulo, though, to find a namesake.

In total, there were 12 boys named after Riquelme playing at this year's tournament—enough to field a whole team, with another Riquelme on the bench.

All of them were born in the early 2000s, when Boca ruled South American football. Back then, the Buenos Aires giants won the Copa Libertadores three times in four years, thrashing Brazilian sides along the way.  

No matter whom they played against, they looked invincible, much of it being down to Riquelme's elegance on the ball as he dictated their rhythm with his classic style.

The way he played the game filled Brazilians with nostalgia because their own country seemed unable to produce old-fashioned playmakers of his ilk. "In the past, we used to have players like Riquelme," Pele reflected in an interview with Brazilian television in 2006.

This obsession contributed to the rise of what might be called the "Generation Riquelme" in Brazil.

They are all similar in name but separated by just a few letters, as highlighted during the Copinha: Among the 12 Riquelmes, there were some unconventional spellings, such as Rikelme, Rickelme, Rikelmi, Riquelmy, Riquelmo and even an Aimar Riquelme (mixing the Boca legend with Pablo Aimar, an iconic player for Boca's fierce rivals, River Plate).

Two of the Riquelmes featured for Cruzeiro and started together in a game during the group stage. It wasn't a unique situation at the club either. With five players named after Riquelme in their academy, Cruzeiro included four of them in a matchday squad last year.

The U20 team's coach, Celio Lucio, a former centre-back who won the Copa Libertadores with the club in 1997, deals with them in his daily routine.

"It isn't that difficult [to tell them apart] because they have different haircuts, don't play in the same position, and more importantly, they aren't all in the same age group," he explains, while admitting he is not the biggest fan of naming kids after greats.

"This whole thing brings a very big pressure on the athletes. I remember seeing a lot of boys called Lineker around. These are situations that should be handled very carefully, demanding some psychological work to make sure their names don't become a burden at some point."

According to the latest population census, taken in 2010, there are 622 Brazilians named after legendary English striker Gary Lineker.

That's nowhere near the popularity that Riquelme has reached, though, leaping from 202 registrations in the '90s to 14,037 in the 2000s. It represents a growth of 6,894 percent, the second-biggest among male names in the period.

The first one? Rikelme, which increased 10,057 percent after going from 26 to 2,641 babies in the same interval.

And it is not just football fans who have been giving their offspring the name of the Argentine maestro; footballers have been at it too.

Former Porto and Brazil international goalkeeper Helton Arruda christened one of his sons Riquelme, while Ronaldo Angelim, a retired centre-back who scored Flamengo's Brasileirao title-winning goal in 2009, did the same.

"He was a great midfielder, someone I enjoyed watching play," Angelim says. "But it was actually because of my ex-wife [Ricassia]. We had already picked a [football] name similar to mine for our first son, Ronald de Boer, so when we heard that our second one was coming, we named him after her."

Despite his baby face and general shyness, Riquelme, who many consider to be Boca's all-time greatest player, was a revolutionary in all senses of the term.

It's no coincidence that El Grafico magazine had him on one of its historic covers as Che Guevara. His die-hard fans call themselves "soldiers of Riquelme." They might have never realised, however, that his army was so big in Brazil as well.

Ezequiel Fernandez Moores, Argentina's leading sports columnist, has followed Riquelme since he broke through at La Bombonera in 1996 and fully understands the fascination he causes on the other side of the frontier.

"If Brazil is the home of artistic football, then, it seems logical to me, that they pay homage to the most artistic player we've had in recent times," Moores argues.

"[Diego] Maradona and [Lionel] Messi are from another dimension, famous on a much more global scale. Riquelme is a distinct phenomenon. He's admired by those who really get this game, who know he did impossible things not because of his excellent technique and skills, but because of his character, his dignity, as an artist of the ball.

"Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that when [Danielle] De Rossi was unveiled at Boca, he admitted having a WhatsApp group with different players, all of them midfielders, one of whom's photo was of Riquelme.

"For that reason, I assume he had such impact in Brazil. Not just because his most memorable masterclasses were against Brazilian clubs in decisive matches, but also for standing for a type of football that no longer exists, from the past, one where the ball was moved around and the player didn't need to run so much. Perhaps, this explains this nostalgia about Riquelme.

"Like Zidane, they have a beautiful name, an artistic one as well: Zinedine and Roman."

While Brazil have a whole generation of Riquelmes coming through their youth ranks, it's just as curious that the same will never happen in Argentina while it's not an accepted name at the country's registration offices.

The closest they will get are the 193 boys named Juan Roman in 2002, a time when the Boca Juniors idol was destroying Brazilians and spreading the legend that makes his compatriots still refer to him as "the last great No. 10."

Brazil, however, may be gearing up to strike back with their very own Riquelme in the near future.

can we all just appreciate that this thread has been carried heavily by brother guest for SIX years now

Incredible

I hope Riquelme sees this thread one day

Meh, at one point Argentina’s hope was on projected future stars, Saviola and Riquelme....... but it never happened?

Both were average pros, Riquelme better, but the majority of his career was in Argentina house leagues. It never been clear to me why Riquelme never stated long with Barcelona nor Villareal. Not sure if it was his play, his greed for bigger contract, his off field activities or was he just home sick. In any event, This entire thread has made him out to be much more than the house league player he was.

RealGunner wrote:can we all just appreciate that this thread has been carried heavily by brother guest for SIX years now

Incredible

I hope Riquelme sees this thread one day

Thank you
for your kind words,
RealGunner.

Have a nice day.

futbol_bill wrote:Meh, at one point Argentina’s hope was on projected future stars, Saviola and Riquelme....... but it never happened?

Both were average pros, Riquelme better, but the majority of his career was in Argentina house leagues. It never been clear to me why Riquelme never stated long with Barcelona nor Villareal. Not sure if it was his play, his greed for bigger contract, his off field activities or was he just home sick. In any event, This entire thread has made him out to be much more than the house league player he was.

Just enjoying with your so called world class footballer,

I'm enjoying with my favourite,

is it ok like that?

Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh to Muslim
& Good day to the rest

Analysis on how
Riquelme humiliated
Real Madrid (2000 CL champion)

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