Lionel Messi is widely heralded as the best player to ever set foot on a football pitch.
The little magician turned 33 on Wednesday and the whole footballing world let off a sigh of sadness that he is now one year closer to retirement.
But another Argentine hero was also born on June 24, a man whose genius has somewhat been overshadowed; Juan Roman Riquelme.
Messi undoubtedly deserves all the rich praise he receives but to say the name 'Riquelme' in an bar in Buenos Aires will ring just as familiar to those present in the room as the Barcelona ace's.
It is ironic that Messi's shadow still lingers over Riquelme these days, because, just like the little magician, Riquelme's first presence in the game saw him likened to the king himself, Diego Maradona.
Just like every skilful Argentine footballer who occupied the No.10 role, Riquelme was quickly branded the 'new Maradona' as he tore apart the Primeira Division with Boca Juniors.
However, it quickly became apparent he was not so much like the World Cup winning tearaway. He was something uniquely different. But fans didn't love him any less.
After almost 200 matches, 44 goals, countless assists, and defence-splitting through-balls, Riquelme joined Barcelona for £10million in 2002 - dubbed 'the saviour of South America'.
But his high-profile move to Barca ended up being a disaster. He struggled with injury and quickly fell behind in Louis van Gaal's pecking order.
Riquelme career stats
1996–2002 -Boca Juniors 151 (38)
2002–2005 - Barcelona 30 (3)
2003–2005 → Villarreal (loan) 70 (27)
2005–2007 - Villarreal 49 (15)
2007 → Boca Juniors (loan) 15 (2)
2007–2014 - Boca Juniors 165 (35)
2014 - Argentinos Juniors 18 (5)
Total - 495 (123)
He featured intermittently and was most often pushed out wide, where his talents were nullified and his deficiencies magnified.
Pace and directness were never his strong suits and it showed - and his three goals in 30 appearances for the Catalan club saw his title as the 'saviour of South America' swiftly passed on to Ronaldinho, who quickly established himself as the new hero in Catalonia.
Riquelme's failure to become the main man at Barca might have been the best thing that could have happened in his career.
Unloved at Barcelona, he found refuge at Villarreal, where he was sent out on loan, and at the LaLiga minnows he quickly established himself as the best playmaker in the world.
While at Barcelona he was criticised for being slow, lazy in defence and ineffective on the break, at Villareal, under Manuel Pellegrini, he was able to focus on the best qualities of his game.
With Marcos Senna breaking up play in the midfield, Riquelme was given a free role to preserve his energy as a No.10, loading the bullets for Diego Forlan, a fellow misfit who rediscovered his purpose at Villarreal, to fire in the goals and go onto win the European Golden Boot with 25 strikes in 2005.
It was at Villarreal when Riquelme made his critics at Barca eat their words - and he backed up his stellar first season with a superb World Cup campaign for Argentina.
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At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Riquelme was tasked with pulling the strings for a team that desperately required some orchestration - and he was a revelation.
Two assists in three group stage games, followed by man of the match displays against Mexico and Germany, cemented his name as one of the most talented players in world football.
If we have to travel from A to B, most of us take the six-lane highway & get there as quickly as possible. Everyone, except Riquelme.
He'd choose the winding mountain road, which takes him six hours, but that fills your eyes with scenes of beautiful landscapes.
Jorge Valdano, former Argentina forwardHis performance against Mexico, despite Argentina's eventual defeat in the tournament to Germany on penalties, is rivalled only by Zinedine Zidane's showing against Brazil as the tournaments greatest individual display.
It was after the World Cup that his career started to turn sour again.
He began to take liberties that his labouring performances no longer justified.
Happy birthday to the greatest to ever grace the Argentine league, Juan Román Riquelme. I'll go to my grave defending him. One of the most underrated to ever play the game. If you don't appreciate or enjoy Román, this sport is not for you. pic.twitter.com/wBQJtpyRQr
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) June 24, 2019His love in with Manuel Pellegrini and the club’s president, Fernando Roig, came to an end and eventually he was dropped and sent back to Boca on loan.
During the tail-end of his career, he remained a hero at the club he had supported as a boy, before he plucked up the energy to enjoy one final stint back where it all began, at Argentinos Juniors.
Riquelme's style of play was always a delight to fans but he was notoriously quiet on the pitch.
He never smiled and instead made his mark on games with studied concentration instead.
But one thing's for certain, the Argentine hero will live long in the memory of the beautiful game.
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