Most of us take the six-lane highway and get there as quickly as possible. Everyone, except Riquelme. He'd choose the winding mountain road, which takes six hours — but fills your eyes with beautiful landscapes.
Juan Román Riquelme played the wrong sport at the right tempo. While football sprinted into the pressing era, the boy from Don Torcuato walked — head up, sleeves down — and somehow the game kept waiting for him.
He was an enganche in the oldest Argentine sense: the hook between midfield and heaven. La Bombonera loved plenty of players, but it believed in Román the way neighbourhoods believe in their own.
The moments
1996
A quiet debut
On 10 November, an 18-year-old came on in a 2-0 win over Colón. Nobody in the stadium knew yet that they'd just met the love of their footballing lives.
2000
Toppling the European champions
In the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo on 28 November, the 22-year-old ran the game at his own tempo as Boca beat Real Madrid 2-1 — including the assist for Palermo's second.
2001
Libertadores MVP
His second consecutive Copa Libertadores with Boca, this time beating Cruz Azul in the final, with Román named the tournament's best player.
2007
The masterpiece
Back at Boca on loan, he dominated the Libertadores final against Grêmio — scoring twice in the second leg in Porto Alegre on 20 June to seal a 5-0 aggregate — and was named final MVP as well as top scorer.
There are faster highlight reels. There is no better argument that football is supposed to be watched slowly, the way you'd look at a painting — which is, of course, the point of this whole shop.