Diego Maradona may cut a slimmer figure these days but he continues to cast a huge shadow over Argentinian football. Just ask the catalogue of playmakers who have been dubbed the New Maradona.
Juan Sebastian Veron, Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar, Andres D'Alessandro, Carlos Tevez, even Leo Messi - all have struggled under the weight. And then there is Juan Roman Riquelme, the man who has finally emerged from that shadow after three years in Spain, the man at the heart of the Argentina team, the man Arsenal have to stop at Highbury tonight.
He is just one in a long line of reluctant inheritors of El Diego's number 10 shirt. But there is none of Maradona's attitude, spark or charm, none of the edge. When he talks he is timid, almost apologetic. When he plays, he has none of the explosive pace, the cheek or the barrel-chested pride.
Jorge Rodriguez, the man who discovered him as a kid, proclaimed him the "best since Diego" and, like Maradona, he started out at Argentinos Juniors, aged 10, before moving to Boca.
He won the Under-20 World Cup with Argentina and was South American Player of the Year in 2001. Maradona himself would turn up at the Bombonera, Boca's home ground, wearing a Riquelme shirt.
Talk about pressure. As if that were not enough, Riquelme then made the same journey across the Atlantic to Barcelona for 25 million in 2002. And, as had happened with Maradona, it went wrong.
Riquelme was signed by the president Joan Gaspart - a man so passionate he would spend games locked in the toilet because he could not bear to watch, not a man who should be let loose on a cheque book and certainly not one to think of asking what his coach thinks before splashing the cash.
Riquelme had destroyed Real Madrid in the World Club Championship but at Boca he had a team built around him. The Barca coach Louis van Gaal would not extend the privilege.
No sooner had Riquelme arrived in Catalonia than the Dutchman told him the signing was not his idea and, when the Argentinian's son was born, Van Gaal presented him with a baby Barca kit, joking, "He'll probably get to wear it more than you wear yours."
Riquelme didn't see the funny side. He started 14 times, invariably occupying a wide left position that did nothing for him. He became morose, the pressure got to him and his brilliance looked brittle. Europe did not suit. Fortunately the Argentinian left-back Rodolfo Arruabarrena came to the rescue, persuading him to switch to a little slice of Latin America hidden on Spain's east coast. Villarreal was a new start, a new identity. He found himself once more in the perfect, comforting environment, a home from home for one of 10 brothers.
Here he was among friends and compatriots; Villarreal boast five other Argentinians, a Uruguayan, a Bolivian, an Ecuadorian and a Brazilian - and a Chilean coach.
They also built a team around him, protecting him with the muscular midfielder Marcos Senna. He started 32 league matches in his first season and, as his confidence grew, so did the quality of his performances. Villarreal slowed the pace to suit him; Riquelme flourished.
Last season he picked up 13 man-of-the-match awards, scored 14 goals and provided 15 assists, more than any other player in the top flight.
Riquelme is, says Arsene Wenger, Villarreal's "quarterback". It is an accurate description. Rarely can Gilberto Silva's remit have been so focused on a single man; rarely can Arsenal have been so clear about whom they need to stop.
