He is one of the biggest defensive circles in history, a player who won everything in a club. But Claude Makélélé's career is marked by a great regret: his absence during the triumph of the Blues at the 1998 World Cup. And for him, the manager of this failure is all found: Olympique de Marseille.
OM has broken the Makelélé World Cup dream
In an interview with BeIN SPORTSthe former French international returned to his only and difficult season on La Canebière (1997-1998). And he didn't chew his words. He describes a club where there was ” a lot of interference and misunderstanding ”. But the heart of his resentment is elsewheres. “I was made to play lateral, it was not my post”he said, before concluding, relentless:
“It made me miss the World Cup”.
At the time, the coach Aimé Jacquet had been clear: to hope to be part of the group, you had to play his post in club. By shifting him to the side, his coach of the time, Rolland Courbis, deprived him of his dream. A decision that he obviously has never forgiven.
A tenacious resentment
This outing, almost thirty years after the facts, is surprising. It shows how a non-selection was a
“Tear” for him. While his teammates raised the World Cup, he was forced to go into exile in Celta Vigo to relaunch a career undermined by this Marseille experience. He will miss the 1998 World Cup and the Euro which followed. Despite 71 selections between 1995 and 2008, the former Nantesis therefore missed the two biggest coronations in the history of the Blues. He will not return to selection until 2005, under Raymond Domenech, to become one of the pillars of the finalist team of the 2006 World Cup alongside Vieira, Zidane and Thuram.
Coming from a former captain of Paris Saint-Germain, this charge against OM is only half surprising. But she rekindles an old injury and will not fail to react on the Canebière. Claude Makelélé would probably do well to pay attention to his next visit to the Vélodrome. The welcome could be … muscular.
