Juan Roman Riquelme: The man who froze time and outshone Diego Maradona as Boca Juniors' greatest legend

On June 25, 1978, at a roaring Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Mario Kempes and his Argentina team-mates defeated a famous and formidable Netherlands side in extra-time to lift their first-ever World Cup. That tense win over the masters of 'Total Football' sent millions out into the streets in pure jubilation. Not until years later would they realise that the previous day, a few kilometres away from that stadium, Juan Roman Riquelme had entered the world.

Born into poverty in Don Torcuato, a working-class area of the Argentine capital, Riquelme was the eldest of 11 sons. Painfully shy and intensely reserved, he earned the nickname 'El Mudo (the Mute)' as he learned the power of self-expression on the football field. His magnificent manipulation of the ball elevated him above his peers and soon Argentinos Juniors - the famed academy that had produced Maradona - adopted him.

By his mid-teens, the young central midfielder was in the middle of a tug-of-war between the nation's two giants. River Plate wanted Riquelme in their youth ranks, but as a Boca fan he was easily lured to the club that would make him a legend.

In November 1996, coach Carlos Bilardo called on 18-year-old Riquelme to make his debut in a league game against Union de Santa Fe, telling him: "We're going to play with two playmakers, you and [Diego] Latorre. You go to the other side and stay there, everyone will mark Latorre anyway. Stay there alone and let the guys pass you the ball."

It was a masterstroke by Bilardo. Riquelme was constantly available and Boca found him every time. He completely confounded the Union players, changing direction at the blink of an eye and picking out passes that seemed impossible until the ball had landed in front of its receiver. Setting up a goal and earning Man-of-the-Match award in the 2-0 victory, Riquelme walked off to a standing ovation - an outrageous first impression at La Bombonera.

Now, Riquelme was sharing the dressing room with the likes of Claudio Caniggia, Uruguayan star Sergio Martinez and the king himself, Maradona. Although nearing the end of his brilliant career, the World Cup winner was still the big dog at Boca.

In August 1997, the two geniuses briefly shared the pitch, with 36-year-old Maradona wearing his iconic No.10 and Riquelme wearing No.9, in a 4-2 victory against their former club, Argentinos Juniors. Maradona scored and came running towards the camera with his eyes bulging. He and Riquelme were summoned for a doping test, and Maradona tested positive.

Appeals against his suspension allowed the legend to keep playing, paving the way for a symbolic substitution. Trailing 1-0 at half-time in the Superclasico against River Plate at El Monumental in October, head coach Hector Veira substituted an exhausted Maradona for the 19-year-old Riquelme. With the fresh upstart pulling the strings in the second period, Boca turned the game around in their fierce rivals’ stadium to win, 2-1. A few days later, Maradona announced his retirement.

It might not have been appreciated as the passing of the baton between eras of Boca greats at the time, but Maradona admitted of the young prodigy: "I see myself in him." Their bond, however, was soon broken in a series of bitter clashes.

When Maradona took over as Argentina national team coach in 2008, Riquelme abruptly quit international football, famously stating that the pair did not share the same moral codes. A decade later, the idols backed opposing candidates in the Boca Juniors presidential elections. When Riquelme joined the ticket of Jorge Amor Ameal to run against the club's establishment, Maradona accused him of selling out.

"You cannot listen to offers and sell yourself to the highest bidder," he wrote on social media. "Dollars cannot weigh heavier than convictions."

Maradona’s man lost and Riquelme was made vice-president, but the feud continued. In March 2020, Maradona returned to La Bombonera as the manager of Gimnasia. With Boca chasing the league title on the final day of the season, Maradona couldn't resist aiming one final barb at Riquelme.

"I am a fan of Boca, but I never quit the national team, I never missed a Boca game, I never missed a Boca training session," Maradona told the press, referencing Riquelme's infamous national team exit.

Maradona’s shadow loomed over Riquelme after the legendary No.10 bowed out, but Carlos Bianchi made sure the prodigy shone through. Upon his arrival as Boca coach in 1998, Bianchi realised the need to build the team around Riquelme, and the two formed a trust that became the foundation of the club's golden era.

"He treated me in a special way,” Riquelme later reflected. "He would come to my room when no one else was there. I have a very special relationship with him.”

Bianchi would send the credit back to his playmaker: "It's his fault. The fact that people love us is because he taught us how to compete, how to be better. I just have to say thank you. I love him very much, I feel like part of his family."

Despite the ever-increasing intensity of football at the time, Riquelme managed to slow the world down to his leisurely pace, freezing time on the pitch to wait for the perfect run so that he could execute a killer pass. If that pass wasn’t available, Riquelme would shield the ball with his body, swivel his hips and knock the ball from boot to boot to keep it away from his opponent - all, seemingly, in one smooth movement - until the time came to release it.

Former Real Madrid forward and fellow Argentine Jorge Valdano described it: "He chooses the clear paths, the right timing, the pass to the player whose foot best suits his team-mates, the pace of every area of the field he occupies… It’s a pleasure to watch a player of his intelligence, because it seems his brain holds the memory of football throughout history.

"He’s a player from a time when life was slow and we’d take our chairs out to the street to chat with our neighbours. There’s something pedagogical about Riquelme’s game, as if every time he touches the ball, the game stops; as if Riquelme knows the forgotten truths of football."

That mastery was best expressed through Riquelme's connection with striker Martin Palermo - though that would also eventually turn sour.

"With Roman, it was about drifting behind the centre-backs, making a run of my own that would easily leave me one-on-one with the goalkeeper," Palermo recalled. "That also comes from talking about it and so much training on a daily basis that it just connects."

Under Bianchi, Boca were unstoppable. They dominated domestically, winning the Apertura and Clausura championships, before turning their sights to the continent.

Leading Boca to the 2000 Copa Libertadores title, Riquelme pulled off the kind of magic that would define his career. In a tense quarter-final second leg against River Plate at La Bombonera, Riquelme received the ball on the right wing with his back to goal. In one fluid motion, he rolled the ball backward through the legs of River defender Mario Yepes, leaving the Colombian completely stranded.

“The day of the nutmeg was wonderful," Riquelme recalled years after the 3-0 win. "The Clasico is something else entirely. I played in the Barcelona-Madrid match, but it doesn't compare. La Bombonera is the only stadium in the world that moves. You bring joy to people's lives. You win the Clasico and the only thing you have to pay for is gas. After that, everything else is free."

Boca went on to beat Palmeiras in the final, but the true masterpiece arrived later that year when they faced Real Madrid in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. Madrid had won two of the last three Champions Leagues and boasted a roster featuring Iker Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Claude Makelele, Luis Figo, and Raul.

Catastrophe struck Boca before the game amid fears Riquelme would miss the game with a knee injury, but he dismissed his importance, saying: "I don’t think the team depends on me. I believe we have a good team." He heavily underestimated his impact. Over the 90 minutes in Japan, Riquelme put on a masterclass.

After Palermo opened the scoring in the third minute from a Marcelo Delgado cross, Riquelme helped double their lead almost immediately. Picking up a loose ball deep in his own half, he took a quick glance upfield and spotted Palermo making a run down the flank and casually launched the ball up the field and into the striker's path, allowing Palermo to fire past a teenage Casillas and make it 2-0 after just six minutes.

For the rest of the match, Riquelme essentially played keep-away against the champions of Europe. Madrid’s revolutionary midfielder, Makelele, was left in his wake time and time again.

Riquelme used his body, his perfectly-timed shoulder drops and his mastery of his famous ‘la pausa’ to leave Madrid without an answer. Boca held on to win 2-1, and Riquelme’s status as world-class was now undisputed. When they went on to claim the trophy yet again the following year, it established a new golden era in the club's history.

In 2002, Riquelme made the leap to Europe, signing for Barcelona in a transfer he later described as "both wonderful and strange." The playmaker had initially dreamed of finishing his career as a one-club man, but he felt the need to leave his homeland following the kidnapping of his 17-year-old brother. 

The player and his family were trapped in a house negotiating with a gang who were demanding $300,000 in exchange for the teenager, despite initially providing no evidence they even had him. Riquelme had to miss a league match against Huracan in order to negotiate his brother's release.

To protect his family, the playmaker opted to head for Europe in the wake of the ordeal, explaining years later: "They pushed me to leave."

Always confrontational and independent, Riquelme was hardly a great fit for the rigid playing style of stubborn Dutchman Louis van Gaal, who reportedly warned him upon his Barca arrival, 'I didn’t ask for you'. Van Gaal wanted high pressing, positional strictness and relentless collective energy - demands free-roaming Riquelme simply wouldn’t meet.

"Van Gaal told me I was the best in the world when we had the ball, and when we didn’t it was like playing with a man less," Riquelme later revealed. Still, he held no bitterness toward the ex-Ajax manager: "He explained to me that he hadn’t been convinced about signing me, but I learnt a lot. His training sessions were marvellous."

Van Gaal wasn't the only manager who viewed Riquelme’s unique profile as a tactical luxury rather than a necessity. Argentina national team manager Marcelo Bielsa left him out of his squad for the 2002 World Cup, despite Riquelme's back-to-back Copa Libertadores triumphs, because he refused to embrace the midfielder's risky style over his collective approach.

Riquelme's Catalan adventure ended with a 2003 transfer to Villarreal, where he found a more understanding boss in Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean said of the maverick: "He was a player with significant talent and a vision of the field that I've seen in few players, with that obligation to carry the team on his shoulders. He always wanted more, and the ball went through him; he wanted the responsibility of leading the team. Riquelme deserves a large part of the credit for what we achieved."

With Riquelme orchestrating the attack, the Yellow Submarine became a formidable force, going on a tremendous run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2005-06. Trailing 1-0 on aggregate in the dying minutes of the second leg against Arsenal at El Madrigal, Villarreal were awarded a penalty. Riquelme stepped up, but his effort was saved by Jens Lehmann.

It was a heart-breaking moment, but Pellegrini refused to blame his talisman: "Many criticise the missed penalty in the Champions League semi-final, but I never did because he had the personality to take it... He was a player who never hid on the field."

That same summer, Riquelme found another manager willing to embrace his genius, this time on the international stage. Having won the Under-20 World Cup together years earlier, Argentina boss Jose Pekerman made him a key figure at the 2006 World Cup.

Unlike other coaches, Pekerman respected Riquelme's stubbornness: "In this sense, Riquelme is a rebel, and there are not enough rebels like him around. You can make people run faster, get them to pressure the other side, alter the strategy… But one thing that never changes is the vision. You don’t need to run quickly to have this. I always thought he would be a success because he was a good footballer who stuck to his principles."

The maestro’s magic was on display with a fabulous, defence-splitting pass during the qualifiers against Colombia that completely bypassed the backline, setting up Luciano Galletti to square it for Hernan Crespo.

During the finals, Riquelme orchestrated some of the tournament's most beautiful moments before Argentina went out in the quarter-finals on penalties to Germany. Not long after he returned to Villarreal, his relationship with Pellegrini broke down over the player's refusal to compromise on his privileges.

"One has certain principles that one doesn't change, and for various reasons, there may have been some specific differences," Pellegrini later told Clank! "Unfortunately, the coach-player relationship has to have certain parameters, and if you don't demand respect, it's very difficult to earn it from the rest of the group. I had a different idea, and unfortunately, we couldn't continue working together."

In early 2007, Riquelme returned to Boca on an initial loan deal. Now 28 and with a point to prove, he inspired what is widely regarded as the greatest individual campaign in the history of the Copa Libertadores.

Under the guidance of manager Miguel Angel Russo, Boca became a finely-tuned machine with Riquelme at its core. He dominated the competition with eight goals, including three across the two-legged final against Brazilian giants Gremio.

"Two very important generations came together," midfielder Sergio Orteman said of that 2007 team, pointing to the veteran core of Riquelme, Palermo, and Hugo Ibarra blending with a younger group of recent Copa Sudamericana winners. "For someone to shine, there must be a team that can defend them.

"It was a combination of things that came together; we ended up catching him when he was mature, fast, always intelligent in his play, and he had a very pragmatic team that suited his style."

Riquelme made his return permanent, cementing his legacy over the next seven years as the ultimate symbol of the club. When he finally left Boca for the last time in 2014, he refused to ever line-up as an opponent against them. Instead, he dropped down to the second division to help his boyhood club, Argentinos Juniors, earn promotion back to the top-flight.

After accomplishing that, he hung up his boots. "I didn’t want to play against Boca," he explained. "When we were promoted, I retired so I wouldn’t have to come to La Bombonera wearing another team’s jersey."

Due to a combination of political drama and the Covid-19 pandemic, it took eight years for the congregation to gather for a proper send-off. The likes of Messi, who cut his summer holiday short especially for the occasion, Angel Di Maria, Pablo Aimar, Walter Samuel and Javier Saviola, as well as Boca comrades like Mauricio Serna and Hugo Ibarra, all featured.

Taking the microphone in the middle of the pitch, the normally stoic, introverted rebel could hardly contain himself. "I was lucky enough to enter a movie on November 10, 1996," Riquelme told the crowd. "The most beautiful thing that can happen to a person."

"As a kid, I dreamed of nothing but being a footballer," he added. "I can't thank you enough for all the love you've given me. My dad made me a Boca Juniors fan, and I know I'll die a Boca fan. Every day I wake up, I ask God that we can continue to have this relationship, this respect. I couldn't live without you."

Later that year, Riquelme was elected Boca president with 64.4 percent of the record 43,637 votes cast. Boca Juniors, Argentina, football - they wouldn't be the same without 'El Mudo'.