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Riquelme: 'They should ask Messi who he wants as coach of Argentina'

LIU JIN / AFP / Getty

Juan Roman Riquelme was the voice of the potreros during his playing career, never afraid to rebel against a manager. Most notably, he quit representing Argentina because he didn't get along with Diego Maradona. According to Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian, one taxi driver summed up the incident by saying: "If there is one thing I respect about Roman, it is how he's the only one in this country with the balls to tell that fat Maradona to fuck off."

Seven years after quitting international football, Riquelme is still staying true to his rebellious roots and telling it like it is.

In conversation with "Los Intrusos," a television show produced by America TV, Riquelme addressed Argentina's managerial vacancy. From one wearer of La Albiceleste's No. 10 to another, the "second inventor of football" expressed a controversial opinion in that Lionel Messi should be responsible for appointing the national team's next manager.

"In my humble opinion, they should ask Messi who he wants as coach of Argentina," Riquelme said, according to ESPN FC. "The coach should put the team together with Messi, make sure he is happy because he is the only one who can lead us to victory."

Riquelme added: "The coach should even be asking him who he (Messi) wants on the team. The issue here is that he must feel at home. The more comfortable he feels, the bigger lead he will give us and that will be better for the team. This is the national team of Argentina we are talking about here, not a club that plays on Sundays. Here they will just have three days to prepare. He must feel comfortable because we don't have a lot of time to prepare."

After skying a shot in the penalty shootout that saw Chile defeat Argentina in the final of the Copa America Centenario, Messi suggested that he may have represented La Albiceleste for the last time, saying: "In the dressing room I thought that this is the end for me with the national team, it's not for me." Of course, it's more than likely that he returns at some point in the near future.

At Beijing 2008, Riquelme and Messi took the pitch together for the men's Olympic football tournament. Under the former's captaincy, Argentina defended its gold medal. The pair also played together at the 2007 Copa America and the 2006 World Cup, but La Albiceleste fell in the final and the quarter-finals of the two tournaments, respectively.

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