Before being the world reference in the defensive midfielder position, playing for Real Madrid (2000-2003), Chelsea (2003-2008) as well as the French team (until 2008), Claude Makélélé failed to win the 1998 World Cup then Euro 2000 with the Blues. The player revealed at FC Nantes had his first selection in 1995! Once considered as Didier Deschamps’ understudy, he came on as a substitute during France-Norway in February 1998 at the Vélodrome (replacing Zinédine Zidane).
However, Makélélé was logically absent from Aimé Jacquet’s group of 22 for the World Cup in France four months later. His only season at OM, with 36 matches and 3 goals on the clock, was not conclusive. Rolland Courbis did not manage to get the most out of Claude Makélélé during the 1997-1998 financial year. It’s a shame since the Phocéens then had a very good year 1998-1999 with a 2nd place behind the Girondins de Bordeaux (in the last moments of the season) and a run in the UEFA Cup until the final (3-0 defeat against Parma).
Claude Makélélé during his only season at OM, in 1997-1998.
“I signed for 4 years, but it didn’t go very well, because the coach made me play right back, among other positions. I wasn’t happy, it wasn’t my game. I didn’t enjoy it and I missed out on a place in the 23 at the 1998 World Cup. At the end of the season, I said I wanted to leave. I had to push, but I was able to go to Celta de Vigo, in Spain, where (Victor) Fernandez had just been signed”Makélélé told the magazine Four Four Two (in comments relayed by coeurmarseillais.fr).
Makélélé is reborn at Celta de Vigo
To be precise, Claude Makélélé was first installed in front of the defense by “Coach Courbis” but he did not give satisfaction and, with the emergence of Eric Roy, was used as right relay, right midfielder and even right piston in one match (against Châteauroux in January 1998). “This is where you discover the real life of a footballer. Paradoxically, it was one of his least prominent seasons, but one that served him enormously for the future.”also launched the man with 71 selections in EDF in the columns of Parisian in 2008.
It was precisely in the Spanish La Liga, at Celta for two seasons (1998-2000), that “Maké” transformed into a tireless recuperator, under the leadership of the Brazilian Mazinho, a specialist in the role (he is the father of Thiago and Rafael Alcántara). XXL victories against Liverpool and Juventus in the UEFA Cup put Claude Makélélé in the sights of Real Madrid and more precisely of his coach at the time, Vicente Del Bosque.
