MARADONAS last match as a professional was against River at the

Monumental. Out of shape and with the side 1-0 down at half-time,
Maradona asked to be taken off. A young player who Boca had also signed
from Argentinos Juniors, Juan Roman Riquelme, replaced El Diez. Boca
turned the match around, beating River Plate 2-1 at the Monumental.
Maradona was gone, but another star was born.
To this day, Riquelme and Maradona battle it out for the status of Boca
Juniors No 1 idol; often the fight is conducted between themselves. The
relationship reached its nadir when Maradona was in charge of the
national team in 2009. The coach said that if Riquelme could not shake off
defenders, then he was no use to him with Argentina. Riquelme had been
struggling with injury and was a long way from the geometric yet lethargic
brilliance that defined his style.
Hitting back, Riquelme announced that he and Maradona did not share the
same code, and he retired from the national team.
Riquelme had divided opinion wherever he went. He famously fell out with
many of his coaches and colleagues, Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona, Manuel
Pellegrini at Villarreal, and even Martin Palermo, his team-mate at Boca.
Opposite the wall of photos of Boca debutants in the club museum are two
statues - one of Riquelme, the other of Palermo. In the final years before
the goalscorers retirement, the relationship between the two entered a
non-declared cold war, to the extent that when Riquelme laid on Palermos
219th goal for Boca, a club record, the playmaker wheeled away and
celebrated away from the striker.
Riquelme is idolised at Boca. When he returned to the club in 2007, he led
Boca to the Libertadores title and while his organisational skill is
respected, his virtuosity on the ball is lauded.
A reverse nutmeg on the Colombian defender Mario Yepes in the 2000
Copa Libertadores superclasico usually wins arguments in bars in Buenos
Aires over what is the greatest piece of individual skill of all time. The
move only ended in a throw-in, but the sublime drag-back through the
defenders legs is regularly revisited and shared by online communities.
While Boca invoke Riquelmes cano on Yepes, River declared Ariel Ortegas
dancing around former Liverpool defender Gabriel Paletta as the National
Nutmeg Day. The older hands at River, meanwhile, maintain the greatest
piece of showboating was in 1954, when the legendary River goalkeeper
Amadeo Carrizo dribbled past Boca striker Borrello twice in the same
move, far outside his area, at the Monumental.

Roberto Passucci, who became a cult figure at Boca Juniors, explains how
Riquelme and Maradona, two of Argentinas most gifted players in the
past three decades, fit into the culture of the Boca supporters. The
supporters love them because they make the difference from the garra
(claw) they demand of the other players. Those kind of players emerge
despite the extreme garra.

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