Paris Saint-Germain's Claude Makelele retires – A fond farewell to a legend
There is nothing glamorous about the anchoring midfield position in football. Furthermore, there are few opportunities for defensive midfielders to catch the eye or snatch the headlines. Despairing last-minute tackles are hardly eye catching to anyone.
However there is one major exception to this case. For all his tough-tackling and no-nonsense game play, Claude Makelele has become synonymous with this position and has become the standard for all upcoming young defensive midfielders. On Sunday, Claude
Makelele played in his position for one last time as Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Saint-Etienne. Since joining the club in the summer of 2008, Makelele twice threatened to retire only to perform a u-turn. However, his outing at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
marked an end to a 20-year long era.
For almost 20 years, Makelele was at the top level of football. He started off with Nantes and since then, he has hardly stepped out of the spotlight. After five years and 135 appearances for Nantes, Makelele joined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-de-Marseille-c40127 in the summer of
1997. Prior to the move, the young Makelele had already raised his profile in the European circle as he guided the club to the semi-final of the European Cup. At Nantes, Makelele scored nine goals as a dynamic midfielder, something that would change in the
future. A year at Marseille laid the foundations of Makelele as a potent threat in the defensive midfield area.
One year at the Rhone club was would eventually be enough to earn the Zaire-born player as Galician side, Celta Vigo signed the player. That wasn’t the end of the story for Makelele as the Frenchman played alongside the likes of Valery Karpin, Aleksandr
Mostovoi, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michel-c25453 Salgado and Haim Revivo. During his time with Los Celestes, Makelele started his true evolution from a dynamic midfielder to a holding midfielder, a position that would make him a true icon at Real Madrid.
Under-rated and least appreciated
In the summer of 2000, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Carlos-c31317,
Luis Figo, Steve McManaman, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-c13609 Hierro, Makelele was one of the club’s most under-paid player. When the Frenchman asked for an improvement to his contract, the club refused to do so. Upset and hurt, the ‘engine’ of the Galacticos handed in
a transfer request.
Florentino Perez, the then president of the club infamously and unfairly criticised the player by saying that the player would never be missed and he will be ‘forgotten’ soon. Perez would eventually eat his words as the Galacticos era slowly started coming
to an end as Madrid’s stranglehold in La Liga weakened. Zinedine Zidane was not happy with his countryman’s departure and said, “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine.”
Madrid’s loos and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786’s gain
In the summer of 2003, Makelele joined Premier League side Chelsea for a fee of 16.8 million pounds. Fernando Hierro never wanted his team-mate to leave the club and criticised Perez for his decision. The retired http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 international said in his biography
that for years Makelele was a great player for the team and never got noticed but all of the Galacticos who played alongside him knew how valuable he was to the team. “The loss of Makélelé was the beginning of the end for
Los Galacticos… You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now,” concluded the defender.
At Chelsea, Makelele proved valuable to Jose Mourinho as the club won the English Premier League for the first time in the 2004/2005 season. He won another Premier League winners’ medal the next season. The Frenchman was also instrumental in the Blue’s run
to the final of the UEFA Champions League (2008) where they lost to fellow Premier League side, Manchester United.
The Makelele Role
Chelsea fans paid homage to the veteran when they dubbed his position as the “Makelele Role”.
Makelele was unlucky to be born in an era of greatness in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 as he missed out on Les Bleus’ World Cup triumph in 1998 and the European Championship triumph in 2000, largely due to the presence of one Didier Deschamps.
The Frenchman would never be remembered for any great moments in the game but the Kinshasa-born player has marked his name in history by attaching his name to a position that is now the most http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vitalô-c40903 position in football of the modern era.
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