Every good thing in this world comes to an end but there are some things you want to hold onto for as long as you can. For me watching Makelele battling against the teams on the international arena was one of them. The man who gave his name to a position on the football pitch surely was no mere mortal and must be given the respect and recognition he deserves.
‘The Makelele role’ as the holding midfield position began to be called in honour of the great man who with his trademarks interceptions, tackles, body movements and short passes made it his own for a decade playing for the French team and clubs such as Nantes, Marsielle, Celta Vigo, Real Madrid and Chelsea. The legacy of Makelele will live on in the international arena but one could sense that it won’t be long before he retires from the club football. We the Chelsea fans would miss him a lot because he has been an integral part of what has been christened as ‘The Blue Revolution’.
Tonight after France failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the European Championsips losing 2-0 to Italy, Claude Makelele came out and announced his retirement from the international scene. It was expected that he would retire after the tournament but I had never thought it would come so soon. I was hoping for France to go all the way so that we can get to savour the game of the great man for some time more however it wasn’t to be. Watching the France-Italy game I never realized that it was going to be Makelele’s swansong and only after the game had finished and the French camp had gone into mourning it occurred to me that the footballing world is losing one of its great players. France going out of the competition which was no less of a shock paled in comparison.
It was ironic that a player of his ability couldn’t win a major trophy with his country. He came close though in the last world cup when France lost to Italy on penalties which was probably his best chance to win something. He deserved more, much more. It didn’t really mattered to Maka however. To him playing for his country was as big a honour he could ever get. After the game he came out and said,
“To have been allowed to wear France’s colours, that’s my trophy”
He was a great professional, a player with exceptional qualities, someone to look upto on the football pitch and a man whose humility and down to earth nature were some of the rare qualities which separated him from the footballers of today. Makelele might stick around for a few more years playing at club level but certainly a chapter has closed today and the footballing world would no longer get to see the Makelele himself in the ‘Makelele’ role. His legacy would live on though and the coming generation would look upto him in awe and say here was the man who taught the world how to play the ‘Makelele’ role.
Good Luck Maka!
Posted by Y 
Blue Tomorrow 
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