Juan Roman Riquelme retires

Bit gutted by this, always been a favourite of mine. People will actually be sincere when they say they will miss watching JRR play football. Was anyone else here hoping we would get him in 2006? Didn't ferie turn up at villareals hotel or something when they were in london for the arsenal semi?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyXTNdpk4j8

Always used to practice scoring from corners Used to get giddy whenever we were linked to him

Why is he not just passing it in a U from one side of the pitch to the other? Doesn't he know he could lose Possesion?

Yes I was hoping we'd sign him but we didn't, and he dropped off the face of the planet not long after.

So, you know, not all he was cracked up to be really.

Was gutted when he missed that last minute pen v Arsenal in the CL semi.

Never forgave him tbh.

beloved by sages and hipsters. £#%&! him.

Originally Posted by taff

beloved by sages and hipsters. £#%&! him.

Van Gaal giving him a replica Barcelona kit for his son, "he'll wear it more than you wear yours"

Lovely footballer, makes Mata look like he has the ability to do the Kessel run in 12 parsecs though.

Slower than Mata.

Originally Posted by Cream

Yes I was hoping we'd sign him but we didn't, and he dropped off the face of the planet not long after.

No he didn't. He played for one of the global giants of world football and won the second-biggest club trophy in the world with them, much as it made my stomach turn at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gfxebkp0HE

Nonsense of a footballer.

some of those through balls are utterly outrageous

Riquelme and Forlan at Villarreal Back when the Spanish League was actually competitive and not populated with cannon fodder existing to allow the superstars to have ridiculous stats.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Riquelme and Forlan at Villarreal Back when the Spanish League was actually competitive and not populated with cannon fodder existing to allow the superstars to have ridiculous stats.

Bit unfair on Ronaldo and Messi that tbh. Agreed that the league is lopsided though...

He was solely responsible for Arsenal making it to the European cup final, he should be ashamed of himself.

Originally Posted by dunk

Bit unfair on Ronaldo and Messi that tbh. Agreed that the league is lopsided though...

Original Ronaldo scored 47 in his year at Barca. That would be an average(by Their standards) season for Messi and Cristiano. More competitive all around Europe at that point, top players players spread around the leagues and teams instead of sitting on the bench at one of the big clubs.

Ronaldo never played in a team with the level of dominance over the rest that Messi and Cristiano have, it does make is easier for them to rack up their absurd numbers.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Original Ronaldo scored 47 in his year at Barca. That would be an average(by Their standards) season for Messi and Cristiano. More competitive all around Europe at that point, top players players spread around the leagues and teams instead of sitting on the bench at one of the big clubs.

Ronaldo never played in a team with the level of dominance over the rest that Messi and Cristiano have, it does make is easier for them to rack up their absurd numbers.

Yet Bale, James, Benzema, Neymar, Suarez etc. Can't put numbers like theirs up...

And Ronnie did 42 and 30+ in 'the greatest league in the World' when he was merely a nipper tbf.

Much as I loved Rotund Ronaldo he did very little in the CL OT Hat-Trick aside

Originally Posted by Grimson

No he didn't. He played for one of the global giants of world football and won the second-biggest club trophy in the world with them, much as it made my stomach turn at the time.

Yeah but not long after that, he fell off the map.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

Original Ronaldo scored 47 in his year at Barca. That would be an average(by Their standards) season for Messi and Cristiano. More competitive all around Europe at that point, top players players spread around the leagues and teams instead of sitting on the bench at one of the big clubs.

Ronaldo never played in a team with the level of dominance over the rest that Messi and Cristiano have, it does make is easier for them to rack up their absurd numbers.

To be fair, Ronaldo score loads of goals for us too.

Originally Posted by andyroo

Van Gaal giving him a replica Barcelona kit for his son, "he'll wear it more than you wear yours"

Originally Posted by dunk

Yet Bale, James, Benzema, Neymar, Suarez etc. Can't put numbers like theirs up...

And Ronnie did 42 and 30+ in 'the greatest league in the World' when he was merely a nipper tbf.

Originally Posted by Cream

To be fair, Ronaldo score loads of goals for us too.

Ronaldo only once scored over 26 goals in a season for Utd, well on his way to scoring 50+ 5 years in a row for Madrid. Messi had 73 and 60 back to back. Main focus of both their teams, all set for them to be the main scorer.

They are the 2 best in the world, 2 of the very best ever but they do get a lot of cheap goals in Spain.