Diego Forlan: Juan Roman Riquelme was an artist and a striker’s dream

In his second weekly column for The National Sport, Diego Forlan shares his experiences with the mercurially talented - and recently retired - Juan Roman Riquelme.

Diego Forlan and Juan Roman Riquelme celebrate after scoring during the UEFA Champions League match between Villarreal and Rangers. Jeff J Mitchell / Getty

Diego Forlan will be writing a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. He currently plays in Japan for Cerezo Osaka. Forlan's column will be written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten

I promise that all my columns won't start at night in Buenos Aires, but allow me to tell a story of a Sunday night far from the centre of Argentina's capital.

I was tired from training with the reserves of Independiente and walked to the station for the train home. A friend called and asked where I was.

He was in a car with Juan Roman Riquelme, whom I'd met a few times. Roman was the star of a brilliant Boca Juniors team and would go on to become one of their top three players of all time.

“Roman wants to know where you are,” my friend said. I told him.

“Wait there by the station, we're coming to pick you up,” he said. “We'll go to the mall and get some food.”

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A Mercedes soon arrived, the car a first-team player from a big club could afford. Cumbia music was playing, with that distinctive sound from all those different instruments. We went to the mall and ate, then Roman offered to buy me some clothes.

I thanked him, but I didn't need anything.

A year later, I broke into Independiente's first team. We played Boca at home and beat them. I scored twice; it was a great moment in my career.

Roman had just played in the Boca team that won the Copa Libertadores and then beat Real Madrid in the last ever Intercontinental Cup final in 2000. My goals brought him down to earth, but he was still the best player in Argentina.

He was big for a No 10, but his technique was beautiful. He'd put the ball through the legs of opponents; he'd protect the ball so nobody could get it.

He gave accurate, measured passes to players in dangerous positions. He was an artist, so fun to watch.

Roman had many offers and chose Barcelona in 2002, but things could have worked out better for him. We spoke about that when we bumped into each other in Amsterdam in a preseason tournament.

I was at Manchester United; he was at Barca, but they let him go on loan to Villarreal when they signed Ronaldinho in 2003 and exceeded their maximum number of foreigners.

I joined him there in 2005. He was a big reason for me choosing Villarreal. We'd play together in attack, him as a No 10 providing me with the balls to score. We still didn't know each other that well, but he shook my hand at training and insisted that I was eating at his place that night. He asked what food I liked.

I said: “milanesa” (a breaded meat fillet). He should have remembered that from the mall! I arrived later to milanesa and mashed potatoes cooked by Roman, which only my brother's cooking could match. Roman was a potato specialist.

We clicked immediately on the pitch. We'd both had some tricky times at our previous clubs, but at Villarreal we came alive under Manuel Pellegrini, who knew us both from Argentina, where he'd managed San Lorenzo and River Plate.

Riquelme would anticipate my runs and give me balls every striker would dream of. I scored from them, often. We reached the semi-final of the Uefa Champions League that year, a great achievement for us. We should have reached the final, but Jens Lehman saved Roman's penalty and Arsenal got there instead. I hate to think about that.

I scored 25 league goals in my first season there and won the European Golden Boot. Roman scored 15, so that was 40 of Villarreal's 69 league goals as we finished third, the highest for the club.

At times we were like kids on a playground, full of love for football.

One goal against Real Sociedad was a favourite. We both had the chance to shoot and score but kept passing the ball to each other in front of the goalkeeper until I put the ball in the net. We smiled and laughed, yet people still said he didn't smile, that he was cold.

Not true.

We didn't play football to make friends and shake hands with everyone. We played to win. He was a private, loyal man from a family of nine or 10 children. He adored his brothers and sisters. It was hard to get into his inner circle, but once you were in, you had a loyal friend.

People in the barrio (neighbourhood) where he grew up adored him, and the feeling was mutual.

He didn't like doing interviews and was never one for small talk, but he was a great lad in a top team.

We had barbecues every Thursday, loads of us South American players. The spirit in that Villarreal team was a strength, yet he was always Boca at heart.

In 2007, he made the decision to go home. He had lots of offers which may have appealed to his head, but not his heart. He wanted to be back at the Bombonera, where he played for another six seasons.

The fans loved him and he felt the same, but he didn't feel the same love from all the directors last season. He left for Argentinos Juniors, his first club. He said he had a debt to repay them and wanted to help them get back in the top division. That's exactly what he did before retiring this week at the age of 36. He still had lucrative offers to play, he still has offers, but he's back home where he's happy.

I salute you, my friend Roman — and not only for those wonderful potatoes that you make, but for all those balls you also put on a plate for me.

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