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Juan Román Riquelme (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 24 June 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current president of Boca Juniors, the club where he spent the majority of his playing career. He is considered by various journalists, players and coaches as one of the greatest playmakers of all time.
Riquelme played as a midfielder in the classic "enganche" role from 1996 until 2015, beginning his career with Boca Juniors, where he won eleven titles, including, five Primera División titles, three Copa Libertadores and one Intercontinental Cup. In 2002 he was transferred to FC Barcelona of Spain, but his time at the club was short-lived due to his unsteady relationship with then-head coach, Louis van Gaal. Riquelme was subsequently loaned to and later bought by 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 semifinals of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history in the following campaign.
Riquelme returned to Boca Juniors in 2007, initially on loan, where he would once again win the Copa Libertadores, finishing as top scorer and MVP of the competition. His transfer was made permanent soon after, and he would go on to win two more league titles and a Copa Argentina during his final spell with the club. Riquelme announced he would quit Boca in 2012 after losing the final of the Copa Libertadores; after spending most of 2012 and 2013 away from football, he returned to playing under Carlos Bianchi in February 2013, before officially leaving in 2014 after the club president decided not to renew his contract. He would briefly sign with Argentinos Juniors in July 2014 to help achieve the promotion back to first division, before announcing his retirement from the professional game in January 2015.
With the Argentina national team, Riquelme achieved success at youth level, winning the 1997 South American U-20 Championship and the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship in Malaysia. Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License - Full article |
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