Riquelme leaves everyone pointing fingers at Boca Juniors
The unthinkable finally happened: Juan Roman Riquelme has left Boca Juniors, for the second time in his career, and this time everyone has been left…
Boca Juniors’ Juan Roman Riquelme leaves the field during an Argentine league soccer match against Lanus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, May 11, 2014. If Boca Juniors’s club decides not to renew Riquelme’s contract, this was Riquelme’s last match at the “Bombonera” stadium. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
The unthinkable finally happened: Juan Roman Riquelme has left Boca Juniors, for the second time in his career, and this time everyone has been left dumbfounded and placing the blame somewhere else.
Riquelme, who like Maradona was brought up at Argentinos Juniors before joining Boca and conquering the world, has had a love and hate relationship with the people running the club since Daniel Angelici became president in 2011.
The prodigal son had returned in 2007, first on loan then on a full transfer from Villarreal, after five years away from Argentina.
SEE ALSO: How does James Rodriguez fit in Real Madrids puzzle?
Roman left in 2002, at 24 years of age, to join FC Barcelona as one of the top stars in the World. His Intercontinental match victory against Real Madrid in December 2000 had turned him into one of the top prospects in the planet, and two years later Van Gaal called on him to lead a project of what was quickly becoming a dying team.
His season at Barcelona was nothing to write home about, and under the huge shadow casted by the tail end of the Galacticos and after Ronaldinhos arrival to Barcelon, Riquelme left on loan to Villarreal, where he would find a habitat more fitting to his guerrilla soldier spirit.
In the Valencian club, Argentinas number 10 would once again become the start of a talented team managed by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini that was just a few inches from becoming the best underdog story in the history of the sport. It was precisely a missed penalty kick by Juan Roman Riquelme, in the Champions League semifinal of the 2005-06 season against Arsenal, which didnt allow the humble Yellow Submarine taste the sweetness of success.
Legend says that the fateful penalty was also the beginning of the end for Riquelme in Villarreal, and after deciding to not play for the better part of the 2006-07, La Bombonera welcomed him back as the hero who returns victorious from battle.
Fans of Boca Juniors’ Juan Roman Riquelme hold banners reading in Spanish ” For Roman renovation now” during an Argentine league soccer match against Lanus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, May 11, 2014. If Boca Juniors’s club decides not to renew Riquelme’s contract, this was Riquelme’s last match at the “Bombonera” stadium. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Since then, hes lead the team to a Copa Libertadores in 2007 and two local championships. Many fans never thought they could love someone more than they did Diego Maradona, but it was possible and that man was Riquelme.
SEE ALSO: Memo Ochoa aims to land in La Liga
The clubs faithful would have done anything to make him happy and keep him around in the hope of seeing him retire at the club like Maradona did–, yet something has gone horribly wrong and Roman, now 36, will play his last games as a professional player suited up in Argentinos Juniors colors.
While we will never really know that real reasons as to why Riquelme left Boca Juniors, and everyone who shares a bit of responsibility seems to be pointing fingers somewhere else, the most heard rumor says that the number 10 and Angelici did not connect from day one.
Juan Roman Riquelme wanted to be the biggest symbol in Boca ?in the widest sense of the word: financially and otherwise?, and Angelici did not feel the same way. Riquelme, has also been said, had requested to earn his salary in US Dollars, given the fragile economic system in Argentina, and Argentinos Juniors agreed to this demand while Boca didnt.
From inside the club, the versions about Riquelmes departure point at the fact that Riquelme had a falling out with Bianchi, his current manager and the man who has been beside him from the beginning of his career at the club.
The player himself said this wasnt true since he loves Bianchi as a father, for everything hes done for him throughout the years, so he would never fight with him even though the manager kept him on the bench in a few key matches of the last season–, even less leave the club because of him.
SEE ALSO: Argentina, Messi and greatness unappreciated
Now, Riquelme faces the challenge of helping Argentinos Juniors return to the First Division of Argentina, while everyone at Boca Juniors is still trying to figure out how things could have gone so wrong that their biggest star would rather play in a lower division than with his all-time club.
