Juan Roman Riquelme: A true icon retires from football

The attacking midfielder won 51 caps for Argentina, scoring 17 goals. He wore the coveted number 10 shirt at the 2006 World Cup, where Argentina lost on penalties to Germany at the quarter-final stage.

Riquelme retires a Boca Juniors legend, and also enjoyed a superb spell in Spain with Villarreal.

The Liga side came agonisingly close to reaching the 2006 Champions League final, but went out to Arsenal after Riquelme missed a late penalty.

"I have decided to no longer play football," he said. "Now I am just a fan. I will go and suffer in the stadium. I am very pleased with the career I had.

"I enjoyed football to the maximum. I hope the people have enjoyed it alongside me. I tried to have a good time. I tried to give everything I could to fans of Boca, Argentina, Villarreal and Barcelona, in the youth teams and the full team.

"I am someone who makes decisions calmly, who thinks a lot. It’s clear now that I’ll be on holiday, I’ll have fun, enjoy time with my children. From now on my football life ends and a new life starts. Let’s see what it holds."

Riquelme made his Boca debut in 1996, and left Argentina in 2002 for an unhappy spell at Barcelona.

He spent four years at Villarreal before returning to Boca in 2007, and concluded his career with a short stint at Argentinos Juniors.

Riquelme won five Argentine Primera Division and three Copa Libertadores titles, all with Boca.

OUR VIEW - Alex Chick: A true icon of the modern game, Riquelme will always be measured by more than the contents of his trophy cabinet.

As an advanced but relatively immobile playmaker, he came to define the 'Enganche' role (essentially a Pirlo-style deep-lying playmaker, but further up the pitch), while his passing, technique and set-piece prowess earned him immense popularity and near-deity status among football hipsters.

Riquelme was the kind of player managers had to build a team around, which may explain why he failed to thrive at Barcelona, and Europe's other giants never came in for him.

His big moment came at the 2006 World Cup, as the centre-piece of Jose Pekerman's thrilling Argentina side - but he was controversially withdrawn during the quarter-final against hosts Germany, a match the hosts went on to win on penalties.

Our perception is that he was a brilliant player, a master skill and a great playmaker, proved for several years with Manuel Pellegrini at Villarreal (great La Liga and Champions League performances), but unfortunately his mentality was not strong enough to hold the pressure at the big clubs such as Barça.

In summary, we've got the feeling that a great player left but he didn't give football as much as expected. He is proof that in any professional sport the difference between being a top player and a great player lies in mentality.