Juan Roman Riquelme’s profession free-kicks, visualised

For soccer followers of a sure age, Juan Roman Riquelme was certainly one of, if not their favorite participant from the noughties.

After bursting on to the world scene after dominating for Boca towards Actual Madrid within the 2000 Intercontinental Cup, Riquelme finally earned a transfer to Barcelona two years later.

It did not work out on the Camp Nou, however his subsequent transfer, to Villarreal, established him as one of many greats on this planet at the moment.

The Argentine’s capability from useless balls was one of many extra spectacular elements of his recreation.

We have teamed up with soccer analyst Marius Fischer, often known as @Gegenpressing91 on Twitter, who has labored his magic with Microsoft Excel to map out all Riquelme’s scored free-kicks in his profession.

Marius says:

“Juan Roman Riquelme was a traditional quantity 10 – a participant sort that’s slowly dying out because of the recreation getting increasingly bodily with an even bigger give attention to transition than ever earlier than.

“Riquelme, who had his finest spell in European soccer at Villarreal from 2003 – 2007 neither was the quickest nor the strongest participant however his imaginative and prescient and method had been excellent.

“He was certainly one of these playmakers that made the remainder of the workforce higher. Each go completely weighted and with a transparent message.

“The identical precision he additionally offered along with his set-pieces. Along with his capturing method, he put some a lot curve on the ball that he may rating and help from each angle.”

Although his trophy haul from his time in Europe is missing, he was vastly profitable in Argentina and stays probably the most beloved Boca gamers within the membership’s historical past.