ARGENTINA legend Ariel Ortega showed he’s still got it during a legends match this week, and fans could be forgiven for not noticing it is him!
The 52-year-old turned out for River Plate in a seniors match and scored a sensational free-kick.
Ariel Ortega still often turns out for River Plate in legends matches Credit: Shutterstock
But the Argentine legend looks a lot different than his playing days Credit: Shutterstock
The legendary playmaker whipped the ball across the goalkeeper from 20 yards out to show you never lose the quality.
He no longer sports the long flowing hair. No, now he has a French crop that shows off his richly earned grey hair.
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Ortega had three separate spells with River Plate during his illustrious career which also took him to Valencia in Spain in addition to Parma and Sampdoria in Italy.
He also spent some time with Fenerbache, but his time in Turkey came to a premature end due to a dispute with the club.
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Fenerbahçe were forced to file a complaint to Fifa in April 2003 after the attacking midfielder had failed to return from international duty after nearly two months!
Ortega was ordered to pay Fenerbahçe $11 million as compensation for breach of an employment contract and suspended him until 30 December 2003.
Ortega lost his appeal in November and had to serve a four- month ban from that day.
Five years prior to that, Ortega made more history for the wrong reasons, this time at the World Cup.
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Ortega rose up and headbutted Van der Sar’s jaw Credit: Getty
And yet, he was still mildly surprised when he was given a red card Credit: AFP
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Ortega, who won 88 caps for his country, famously lost his head during the semi-final encounter with Holland.
He dived when trying to win a penalty in the dying minutes with the score locked at 1-1, but before the referee could brandish him a second yellow card and send him off, he decided to headbutt a confronting Edwin van der Sar and get a straight red card.
To make matters worse, Dennis Bergkamp would score one of the all-time classic World Cup goals to win the game minutes later.
