Juan Roman Riquelme's 10 Most Memorable Moments and Accomplishments

Juan Roman Riquelme was an artist. A rare one.

Yes, he bickered with managers, and no, he didn't make the impact with Argentina he might have, but over nearly two decades in professional football, he managed to make the acts of kicking and dribbling a ball look beautiful, and those aesthetic attributes are what will constitute his legacy.

We'll celebrate a bit of it here.

Following are the 10 most memorable moments and accomplishments from Riquelme's career.

Like Diego Maradona, Juan Roman Riquelme moved to Boca Juniors from Argentinos Juniors. And like his famous predecessor, he became a Boca legend.

But before all the league and continental titles, there was his top-flight debut.

It came in November 1996 against Union de Santa Fe—a match Boca won 2-0. His first goal for the club came later that month.

Riquelme's first goal for Boca Juniors came in November 1996—shortly after he made his debut for the club.

It was an emphatic strike.

Moving just inside the 18-yard box as the ball came in from his left, the then-18-year-old's first-time hit arrowed into the top, left-hand corner of the goal.

Riquelme was already an accomplished underage international by the time he debuted for Argentina's senior side in 1997.

He took his bow under manager Daniel Passarella in a World Cup qualifier against Colombia.

Appropriately, the match took place at La Bombonera—home to Boca Juniors.

Argentina's pantheon of exceptional, underage internationals includes the likes of Diego Maradona and Sergio Aguero.

And, without a doubt, Juan Roman Riquelme.

At the 1997 South American Youth Championship, he was part of a side that won the tournament in Chile (scoring three goals) and was named to its all-star team.

Several months later, at that year's FIFA U-20 World Cup in Malaysia, he scored four goals, as Argentina won the title for the third time.

Riquelme hadn't played much club football in 2007-08 when he suited up for Argentina ahead of an October match against Chile.

It was a World Cup qualifier at Estadio Monumental—home of Boca's archrivals River Plate—and he scored twice from set-piece situations in a 2-0 win.

The first, struck from nearly 30 yards, arced perfectly inside the top, far corner of the goal.

The second, from even further out (and at a difficult angle for a right-footer) looped over the wall and beat the goalkeeper to the near corner.

The goals were his 14th and 15th for Argentina.

Riquelme scored just once at senior level against Brazil, but the goal came at the Monumental in a 2005 World Cup qualifier.

Typical to a Riquelme-inspired bit of buildup, the No. 10 moved intelligently between four opponents, received the ball on the half-turn, lost his marker on the spin and released a perfect drive that found the back of the net at the near corner.

Argentina won the match 3-1.

Among the individual accolades Riquelme won over the course of his career was one that suited him nicely: Marca's Most Artistic Player award for the 2004-05 season.

At that point he was still on loan at Villarreal following a disastrous spell at Barcelona, and he scored 13 goals in all competitions for the Yellow Submarine.

But more than that, for the first time he mesmerised a European audience over an extended period. And they loved him for it.

Although he represented Barcelona and attained some degree of fame at Villarreal, Riquelme was and will always be a Boca Juniors player.

In two stints with the club, he won five domestic titles—the first in 1998 and the last in 2011, when as a 32-year-old he was named Argentine Footballer of the Year.

The gong was added to a trophy cabinet that already included South American Footballer of the Year honours for 2001.

Riquelme won his first Copa Libertadores in 2000 when Boca Juniors beat Palmeiras on penalties in the final.

En route to the title, they had also overcome archrivals River Plate 3-0 at La Bombonera.

The following November he was part of the Boca side that beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.

Riquelme and Boca repeated as South American champions the next year, but it was in 2007 that the playmaker really left his mark on the competition.

He scored eight goals in that year's competition, including three over two legs in the final against Gremio.

It was during the 2005-06 Champions League season that Juan Roman Riquelme truly became an international superstar.

He and his Villarreal teammates went unbeaten during the group stage of that campaign, overcoming such opposition as Benfica, Lille and Manchester United.

Riquelme's magic continued into the round of 16, where he scored the first goal of the tie against Rangers and into the quarter-finals where he masterminded a win over a high-octane Inter Milan outfit.

In the semi-finals against Arsenal, he had a chance to restore level terms on aggregate from the spot but ended up putting his penalty right into Gunners goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

It was a tragic way to go out of the tournament, but in retrospect he was among the best players in it.