Riquelme Returns

This article by APM was published on Goal.com before Copa America.
With Roman's return, perhaps the author's wishes will be granted?
We could only hope.

The final of the Copa Libertadores 2007 (Liberators Cup) has confirmed what many had expected, but many had also doubted, as the Argentine ace celebrated renewed success. Riquelme pulled off yet another classic commanding performance and led Boca Juniors to their sixth conquest of the most prestigious South American Cup – half of which have been hoisted with the Xeneize number 10 in a starring role.

The triumphant return of the player to centre stage in world football is the latest peak to be reached by a Román whose career has been a real rollercoaster ride. Now he’s ready to hog the limelight at national level again as he returns to Albiceleste duties for the upcoming Copa América. Can he keep it up or is the Román empire destined for another decline…?

While few doubt that Juan Román – the name he prefers to have on his shirt – Riquelme is a player of rare class, only the most diehard Boca Juniors fan isn’t aware that the number 10 has struggled through ups and downs. While in South America the midfielder has prowled pitches with almost clockwork class, his European experiences have been fraught with difficulties.

Riquelme has everything to be remembered as one of the greatest playmakers in any of the top European clubs, yet at the age of 29 (this Sunday) the facts don’t reflect such a standing. After all Riquelme was loaned out to Boca Juniors not by one of the Old World greats, but by Spanish minnows Villarreal. It all seems oddly illogical given his self-evident star status.

His path towards stardom had been blazed before by none other than Diego Armando Maradona, Riquelme attracting attention at Argentinos Juniors and being signed by a Boca Juniors where he would be worshipped in a number 10 jersey. Both coincided at Boca Juniors for a short time; the start of Maradona’s classy ceaseless support of Riquelme through thick and thin.

They played under Hector Bambino Veira and almost jointly celebrated the 1997 Apertura (Opening Tournament – half of the Argentine league), although the side faltered and the trophy ended up at cross-town arch-rivals River Plate. The same hated enemy (after doing a Guarana commercial in which he donned a Brazil shirt Maradona said that the only shirt he would never wear was a River one) also marked Maradona almost literally passing the baton on to Riquelme.

On the 25th of October 1997 River and Boca met at the formers Monumental stadium for a historic date – Diego Armando Maradona played his last match. Veira brought Riquelme on for Maradona to the chagrin of many, but Román spearheaded the comeback and carved an immediate place in Xeneize hearts as well as the front pages of sports papers everywhere.

Although the parallels are there, the differences between the two are crystal clear. One is that Riquelme spent a year being groomed in the youth ranks at Boca whereas Maradona arrived as an established crack player, although strangely enough the difference in transfer fees was just $200,000 (evidently not taking into account inflation). Other key differences can perhaps explain why Maradona succeeded in Europe while Riquelme has yet to taste glory abroad.

The first is speed – velocity, not the drug – and the second is personality. Maradona was able to pull off his trademark sprints and weave through tightly-knit defences with almost insulting ease while Riquelme has been labelled as a tortoise to Maradona’s hare. The second is that Maradona (even before the chemical boosts) oozed a never-say-die attitude and an ability to bulldoze through adversities, sometimes to his physical cost.

Riquelme’s speed has never been his strongpoint, although only those reading this in Braille aren’t aware that his strengths lie in other areas. This muddied him with a stain that is still tough to remove just as he crossed the pond for the first time to FC Barcelona. Part of the blame lies with Madrid-based daily AS (Ace), notorious for its muck-raking and rabble-rousing headlines and love of PhotoShop.

Originally the paper went head-over-heels about Riquelme after the number 10 led Boca Juniors to beat Vicente Del Bosque’s Real Madrid, hoisting the 2000 Intercontinental Cup (now FIFA CWC Japan) in Tokyo. Although both goals were scored by Martín Palermo (within three minutes) in the 2-1 win over the Galacticos, it was the Xeneize number 10 who starred in the conquest.

Although sadly demeaned in Europe the Intercontinental Cup is seen as highly prestigious in South America and no South American team had won the match since 1994, when Velez Sarsfield beat AC Milan 2-0, ironically enough under the command of a Carlos Bianchi who squeezed the best out of Riquelme at Boca over a decade later.

Riquelme's clinical eye for a perfect pass was evident in the second goal as he telegraphed a 70-metre pass for Palermo to bang past Casillas. He also stood out for his infuriatingly effective protection of possession as Real Madrid tried to come back (one goal scored, two disallowed) but were foiled as Riquelme led whipped the Merengues into peaks of exasperation with a slow tango.

The next day the AS front page blared "¡Florentino, Fíchalo!" (Florentino, Sign Him!) in a direct appeal for the-then President to bring Riquelme to Madrid as the next Galactico. When this didn’t happen and Barça brought him in to solve the incipient trophy drought at Camp Nou, the stance was fiercely hostile and spattered the Argentine with a clear insult.

"¡Timo Al Barça!" (Barça Have Been Conned!) screamed the headline at AS, claiming that the Catalans had been ripped off by Boca Juniors for paying 2,000 million Pesetas (12 million Euros) for a sluggish 24 year-old. This wasn’t helped by his landing in a tough time and with hardhead Coach Louis Van Gaal not wanting Riquelme - and saying so.

With the terse tactician sidelining him in a way that was repeated recently by fellow Dutch Coach Co Adriaanse at FC Porto with Diego (Werder Bremen), Riquelme was given few chances to shine, only glowing with brilliance in the Champions League against Anderlecht. Played out of position in an absurd way that minimised his strengths and maximised his weaknesses, Riquelme was soon unhappy bench fodder and then loaned to Villarreal.

His appearance didn’t exactly help, Riquelme seeming sad and slow in interviews and with a stooping posture and furrowed brow that many mistook for a slacker-like losing mentality. It was a deeply unfair damning judgement that was passed on the player, but he has shown a tendency towards melancholia both before and since that hasn’t served his cause well.

Rather than battle for his way of playing and convincing Coaches that he would be more useful if he played in X or Y way, Riquelme tended to appear to be moping and shrinking away from making his point on the pitch or even loudly complaining to the press. This apparent throwing-in of the towel when things were going wrong has seen the player bob up and down with club and country success.

There have been mitigating circumstances that explain the blues (the kidnapping of brother Cristian that ended up with Riquelme giving in and paying the thugs off, Boca President Macri seeing him as a commodity for sale rather than upping his wages, the Gaspart years at Barça that led him to be identified with failure, Pellegrini recently scapegoating him at Villarreal) but the fact is that many see him as too irregular and soft.

Announcing his premature (and now overturned) decision to quit the Albiceleste after being eliminated at the World Cup 2006 was also seen as weak by some, his claims that he was hanging up his international boots for the good of his mother labelled as a poor excuse in some quarters, although Maradona backed him up to the hilt and his mother was hospitalised twice.

Tellingly some see him as not able to handle pressure despite his myriad successes at Boca Juniors – great in South America or as the star of a small team (with a pronounced South American accent) like Villarreal but not up to scratch for the giants. Once again he was pigeonholed and labelled as great as a big fish in a small pool but unable to jostle with the big boys.

Nevertheless interest continued as he shone in Europe and in April 2006 the Daily Mirror claimed that Manchester United had made a 13 million Euro bid for the player but Villarreal wanted more and the deal stalled – starting his disenchanted phase at Villarreal along with that poor penalty kick against Arsenal in the last minute of the 2005-6 Champions League semi-final.

Back in Argentina with a more comforting blue-and-yellow shirt and number on his back, Riquelme has returned to greatness, also laying waste to certain rumours of his softness as he overcame initial re-adaptation difficulties to shine as brightly as ever at Boca. The five-month loan was crowned with global hat-trick across the two-leg Libertadores final.

Now he faces a crossroads yet again. He is back in the spotlight as arguably the best player in South America and has revived his fortunes after leaving through the Villarreal back door. He still has two years left on the contract he signed at the end of the 2004-5 season, but few can see him hugging and making up with President Roig and Coach Pellegrini.

If he can command Argentina to glory in Venezuela next week Riquelme could well be this summer’s star signing for one of the European giants. Some may still pooh-pooh the potential achievement as being in a prestige-free South American tournament, but that would be yet another unkind assessment.

Perhaps the following extract from a South American sports paper hits the nail on the head. "It’s not necessary to say how important and differentiated Riquelme as “Román” dug the Grêmio grave and nailed the lid shut. First he maintained possession and made Grêmio run all over the place,'' began the review.

"After that he lured the Gaúchos into attack and killed them with a counter-attack. He made every cent of his $ 500,000 monthly salary at Boca count. A better farewell would be impossible." Glowing praise indeed…especially coming from a Brazilian paper. Everything is in his favour, so perhaps we will see Román finally conquer Europe – it's about time.


APM