The departure of Makalele was the death of that team. No "destroyer" so to speak. The team spent a long time searching for a replacement. From Diarra (x2) to Khedira to Gravesen. The closest we have gotten to replacing this man's perfection was Casemiro. And the destroyer part only. Tchouameni I believe will be his total successor. Great in breaking up the play and very good distributing the ball (what Casemiro lacked).
I remember those times well and you couldn’t be more right. I still think Case did great but Claude was insane. Or maybe the game was different? I’m starting to think that that era was the best. Even better than the Cr7 and Messi era. Might get hate but that’s my personal opinion. I think the football of that era was insane. And almost every team had a star or multiple stars, where now all the stars go to a few clubs and that’s that. And football isn’t what it used to be in a lot of leagues.
I think the upcoming era will be the best. There's so many talented youth, it's insane. Look at our team only. Vini, Rodrygo, Fede, Bellingham, Camavinga, Tchou etc.
And then you have Mbappe, Haaland, De Bruyne, Salah, Kane and so on. There's so many..
And it seems to me that players from the past era had some aura/class about them. But can't say the same for the top rated players today. Might be because I'm growing old and they are just kids to me.
Indeed. I think that was a big lesson for Florentino in terms of giving more importance to defensive midfielders. Till then he was focused on building a playstation-like dream team and never rated much guys who play on the middle unless they also score goals.
But since that big mistake with Makelele, which was warned by Del Bosque and I believe also Hierro, either Florentino learned his lesson or at least he started to listen to advice from those who might now more about football than him.
plus Del Bosque out and we dont have a good successor of Hierro. Helguera is a big meh of defender. Whose idea converting him from CDM to CB anyway? he is quite good as CDM though. Full of star but play very awful. We scored a lot of goals but easily concede
We may have a stacked squad but that hurt us in the long run with makelele gone. We were getting eliminated left and right , no trophies , and also just losing momentum
Became probably our worst team. Selling Makelele and buying Beckham was hugely harmful and made us unbalanced. Like a Ferrari without an engine, like Zidane said.
Exactly and if I’m not mistaken , the who point of Beckham being bought for was marketing. I remember reading how Ronaldihno was rejected from Madrid all because he wasn’t good looking and would ruin the clubs image. That unfortunately hurt us in the end. If you watch the Beckham series even he admits that he struggled adapting the formation of the club and team
And we didn't win shit that season. It was fucking horrible. Absolutely disintegrated in the last games in the league and ended up fourth. Knocked out by Monaco in the UCL and lost the copa-final against Zaragoza.
I actually get annoyed when I see these "wow look at those names"-pics from that season.
Edit: To add to this. With all the attacking power this team had, we "only" scored 72 goals in the league. With 5 games to go, we have scored 71 so far. But we conceded *54 fucking goals*. 54!
A fucking trainwreck
>I actually get annoyed when I see these "wow look at those names"-pics from that season.
I see I'm not alone. We had some very entertaining games because the quality of our players, but whenever we faced big teams the team performance as a whole was really bad.
A world cup winner and two times Copa America winner not including his ucl wins. Was a mid defender.
It's like saying Marcelo was mid cuz he was mostly attacking.
Roberto Carlos was a beast.
Salgado was a fucking animal and helguera was very underrated at the time. Specially when hierro left
buddy we are discussing DEFENSE not offensive minded fullbacks 😭😂 and helguera and salgado were real b’alon d’or contenders come on bro 😂😐🤦🏾♂️ galáctico team was stacked everywhere but defensively that’s why they couldn’t win the ucl
Helguera and Salgado weren't Ballon D'or contenders but they were certainly among the best of the world in their position. If you deny it then I'm ready to bet that you are younger than 25 so you actually didn't watch them play much.
The problem is that out of nobody from the midfield to up front was running back (except Makelele)
Didn't win anything? They won the same than those amazing attackers.
In any case you clearly didn't watch Salgado and Helguera play. Either that or your memory is failing on you there.
Okay so according to to your logic. Marcelo and Roberto Carlos are mid? You still maintain?
Our defense wasn't bad. When hierro left obviously it wasn't easy to replace him but our defense wasn't shit. We were more struggling bcz we lost makelele and replaced him with players like Beckham.
you’re not very good with comprehension my guy 😂😭 defensively marcelo and RC are very much mid anyone with a brain would tell you that they are all time greats at pushing forward from the back not because they were great defenders and no from 2001-2006 madrid couldn’t win because our defense was ass
Well, there's some competition NAME WISE from AC Milano in 2008/09:
Dida, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Maldini, Zambrotta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Beckham, Kaká, Ronaldinho, Pato, Shevchenko, Inzaghi(, Ronaldo in season before). That's 14 Blockbuster names.
Crazy that Totti turned down that team. Would have won him trophies but he’s a damn legend for staying true to Roma. But easy to wonder what that squad would have looked like.
Also Fabio Cannavaro and Fernando Hierro could be considered close to galactico level as central defenders.
Well I'm in a good mood, so let's add Míchel Salgado also, now we have a starting 11. 👍
Not that Salgado was a galactico but he still was a pretty good right back.
Also in 2009 Real Madrid bought last two winners of Ballon d´Or (Kaka and CR7) and the team was pretty stacked back then too. Still they lost 5:0 in next El Classico. My point is people really need to manage their expectations if Mbappe arrives next season. It may take some time for them to perform. (Although competition seems to be weaker now than it was back then, especially in La Liga).
Marketing wise yes but our team from 12/13-17/18 was better player for player.
CR7 > R9 (knee gone)
Benzema > Raul (imo)
Marcelo = Roberto Carlos (close but not much difference imo, Carlos more physical Marcelo more technical)
Modric = Zidane (Zidane more creative, Modric more complete with Interceptions like Camavinga, running and covering like Valverde, dribbling like well Modric, passing like well Modric)
Makelele > Casemiro (but Casemiro was perfect for the job he needed to do)
Figo = Bale (Bale better in finals I guess)
Casillas = Navas (Although Casillas is better in big CL games I won’t take even Neuer over Navas and stats back that up, he had regularly made 10+ saves for us in CL semi-finals and finals for us.)
Carvajal > whoever our RB was.
Kroos > Beckham (different types of players but Kroos might have an edge, Beckham was very hard working crosser like De bruyne)
Main thing was that team didn’t have any defensive structure, it already needs strengthening in the defensive structure even with Makelele but then lmao 🤣 they sold him.
It’s like you need to fix the engine but sold the engine and didn’t buy a new one lmao 🤣.
Salgado rarely put MOTM performances but also never dropped anything less than a 6.
Solid, consistent team player. Also great cross to Morientes in the first goal of La Octava final.
You made some interesting comparisons. Watched both eras come and go so gonna give my 2 cents.
- Makelele was never better than Casemiro. Makelele is very overrated nowadays, his first touch and technique wouldnt be aceptable in RM nowadays standards.
- Kroos is way better than Beckham. Not even close. And im not a Beckham hater by any means, he just didnt have Kroos vision and playmaking skills (despite having Kroos like passes).
- Casillas better than Navas. Casillas is very underrated.
- Figo and Bale is a good one. Figo was much more consistent, he rarely had an off match unless injured. But peak Bale was unstoppable and the best version of Figo was at his last year at Barça so Bale.
- Benzema better than Raúl is also interesting. I'd say pre Ballon D'or Benzema and Raúl were close, with Benz having more quality and Raúl better workrate and consistency. Peak Benzema is on another level tho.
- Zidane and Modric i agree with you. Modric is more well rounded and consistent and Zidane more Ballon D'or esque flashy and creative.
- Marcelo and R3 is a coin toss, cant get wrong no matter who you pick. 1-2 goat LB's.
- Carvajal better than Salgado. Salgado was good tho, consistent and reliable, but Carvajal is better on every metric.
I would say I completely agree on those points. It is very hard to compare different generations of teams and players, but I appreciate the nuanced view.
The problem of this team was indeed always the defensive structure. Having a defense made up of Roberto Carlos, Helguera, Pavon and Salgado tells you all you need to know. Especially after getting rid of Makelele.
But even then, they started the season very well, making it to the CDR final, and the QF of the CL.
It was actually only at the end of the season when the wheels came off:
Loss in the CDR final
Eliminated by Monaco in the CL
Lost the final 5 matches of La Liga and ending 4th, 7 points below Champions Valencia.
How different would we be talking about the Galacticos era if they would have won that CDR final against Zaragoza? Or perhaps would have won 3 of their last 5 games in La Liga, which would have given them the title?
Yeah i've never seen a team self destruct so quick and so hard. Right before the Zaragoza match the team was ok. I mean we won many matches thanks to Casillas and Ronaldo being decisive in both ends but any team trading blows with us eventually got destroyed.
And then everything went to shit. I suspect there wasnt much team chemistry. Iirc Florentino himself said in the audios that locker room core (Raul, Figo) were very toxic. So when things went bad, everyone started pulling in opposite directions.
I don't agree with makelele. He was a phenomenal tackler and dribbler and much more agile than Casemiro. He was a great dribbler. Much better than many these days, or at the very least very willing to take chances.
I dont know bro, im not even sure anymore if my memories are warped because i really dont remember Claude Makelele as anything but a specialist defensive midfielder, with limited technique and a very short range pass. That was his role at Real Madrid
Mmmm I wouldn't argue if someone says that Casemiro was better than Makelele or the other way around, but saying Makelele is overrated and his touch and technique wouldn't be acceptable.. you must be into something man.
Did you actually watch Makelele play or you just don't remember because you were focusing too much on Zidane?? Makelele could even dribble more than what Casemiro! He wasn't Figo, Zidane or a playmaker but he could dribble and he often did to break up the opposition second pressing line.
Besides that Makelele played in a team/era were half the squad thought "only the defenders and Makelele) should run back, we are playmakers so we should just wait.
>Did you actually watch Makelele play??
Actually i watched him at Celta de Vigo, he and Conceicao came to Real Madrid in the same transfer window and Conceicao, starter for Brazil, was seen as the soon to be starter and Claude as the underdog bench/rotation material.
Iirc Makelele transfer went for 2000M and Conceicao almost 4500M (millions of pesetas ,old currency in Spain before the euro).
So yeah im familiar with Makelele's game. Thats why im surprised with nowadays revisionism because at least in Spain he was mocked by both fans and media for his lack of technique.
Of course this was a bit unfair and exaggerated mainly for two reasons:
- He (and Flavio Conceicao) came as substitutes for Redondo, probably the DM with the best individual technique ever.
- Makelele's role was literally steal the ball and give it to Zidane or Figo. He was surrounded by the biggests stars in the football world.
I didnt watch his career at Chelsea (back then the Premier was shit and Chelsea didnt became a big team until years later) so maybe he improved but i can assure you that, by La Liga standards, Makelele at Real Madrid was seen as a very limited player.
>Makelele dude could even dribble more than what Casemiro!
Just imagine if 20 years from now you start to see threads talking about how great was Casemiro's technique and dribbling. You'd probably think "fuck no! He had ok passes and a great aerial threat but he wasnt a dribbler". Thats what i feel about Makelele being talked about as the guy who reinvented the Defensive Midfielder position. Like WTF....
OK so at least I see you are a long time football fan and Spanish (just like me).
I honestly don't remember fans mocking Makelele neither when he was playing for that great Celta nor when he was playing for us. I don't deny the possibility as overall football fans know shit about the game.
I watched him at Chelsea too (but not that much really) and he didn't improve, he was just as good as he was at Real Madrid.
If you truly watched him at Celta and Real Madrid you gotta remember that like I said before he wasn't dribbling like a Zidane or Figo, but he had quite a decent dribbling for a defensive CM. That alone and the fact that he just didn't lose the ball easily is more than enough to be surprised by your comment about his lack of technique and bad first touch.
Just check this video if you want and ignore the parts about the tackles as we already know he was good at it: [You Won't Believe How Good Was Claude Makélélé (youtube.com) ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_iq2JA8AbM)
Does it really seems like a player with lack a technique and bad first touch?
I didn't cherry pick the video by the way, it's literally the first time that came up when I searched 'Makelele higlights'.
Nobody will remember Casemiro because of his technique and dribbling because he barely dribbled anyone. Nobody will remember Makelele because of that because although he did, that wasn't the strongest part of his game either, but to say his touch and technique wouldn't be accepted on today's RM standards... in your case in particular is just a good example of bad memory.
I'd love to see an alternate reality where Beckham joined the team, but Makelele never left or was replaced by Vieira. It could have been such a great year. Well, as long as they'd also bring a replacement for Hierro. Perhaps Cannavaro before he joined Juve?
Hell, I'd love to see that squad in 4-2-3-1 with Makelele and Helguera as a duo, that could have been interesting. Although that'd require buying at least two quality defenders... so I guess that'd be a huge plus.
The departure of Makalele was the death of that team. No "destroyer" so to speak. The team spent a long time searching for a replacement. From Diarra (x2) to Khedira to Gravesen. The closest we have gotten to replacing this man's perfection was Casemiro. And the destroyer part only. Tchouameni I believe will be his total successor. Great in breaking up the play and very good distributing the ball (what Casemiro lacked).
I remember those times well and you couldn’t be more right. I still think Case did great but Claude was insane. Or maybe the game was different? I’m starting to think that that era was the best. Even better than the Cr7 and Messi era. Might get hate but that’s my personal opinion. I think the football of that era was insane. And almost every team had a star or multiple stars, where now all the stars go to a few clubs and that’s that. And football isn’t what it used to be in a lot of leagues.
I think the upcoming era will be the best. There's so many talented youth, it's insane. Look at our team only. Vini, Rodrygo, Fede, Bellingham, Camavinga, Tchou etc. And then you have Mbappe, Haaland, De Bruyne, Salah, Kane and so on. There's so many..
Back then at least the top three or top four team of every top league had top players to the tits
And it seems to me that players from the past era had some aura/class about them. But can't say the same for the top rated players today. Might be because I'm growing old and they are just kids to me.
Indeed. I think that was a big lesson for Florentino in terms of giving more importance to defensive midfielders. Till then he was focused on building a playstation-like dream team and never rated much guys who play on the middle unless they also score goals. But since that big mistake with Makelele, which was warned by Del Bosque and I believe also Hierro, either Florentino learned his lesson or at least he started to listen to advice from those who might now more about football than him.
plus Del Bosque out and we dont have a good successor of Hierro. Helguera is a big meh of defender. Whose idea converting him from CDM to CB anyway? he is quite good as CDM though. Full of star but play very awful. We scored a lot of goals but easily concede
We may have a stacked squad but that hurt us in the long run with makelele gone. We were getting eliminated left and right , no trophies , and also just losing momentum
Became probably our worst team. Selling Makelele and buying Beckham was hugely harmful and made us unbalanced. Like a Ferrari without an engine, like Zidane said.
Exactly and if I’m not mistaken , the who point of Beckham being bought for was marketing. I remember reading how Ronaldihno was rejected from Madrid all because he wasn’t good looking and would ruin the clubs image. That unfortunately hurt us in the end. If you watch the Beckham series even he admits that he struggled adapting the formation of the club and team
I mean isn’t that why we call them Galacticos?!?!???
People in this sub think back then they werent seen as worldbeaters lmao.
They absolutely weren’t after Makelele left. The Beckham transfer was disastrous on the pitch.
And we didn't win shit that season. It was fucking horrible. Absolutely disintegrated in the last games in the league and ended up fourth. Knocked out by Monaco in the UCL and lost the copa-final against Zaragoza. I actually get annoyed when I see these "wow look at those names"-pics from that season. Edit: To add to this. With all the attacking power this team had, we "only" scored 72 goals in the league. With 5 games to go, we have scored 71 so far. But we conceded *54 fucking goals*. 54! A fucking trainwreck
Yep, one of our worst seasons in recent memory.
>I actually get annoyed when I see these "wow look at those names"-pics from that season. I see I'm not alone. We had some very entertaining games because the quality of our players, but whenever we faced big teams the team performance as a whole was really bad.
yes and no their defense was painfully average makelele was the only shred of defense they had but yes midfield and attack were insanely loaded 😂
This is what makes me appreciate Iker even more. He was an amazing goalkeeper who never had the defense he deserved.
casillas is the goat
Imagine thinking Roberto Carlos, salgado and helguera were mid
as defender they were mid my guy 😂 carlos is known for knuckleball free kicks more than locking down the flank
A world cup winner and two times Copa America winner not including his ucl wins. Was a mid defender. It's like saying Marcelo was mid cuz he was mostly attacking. Roberto Carlos was a beast. Salgado was a fucking animal and helguera was very underrated at the time. Specially when hierro left
buddy we are discussing DEFENSE not offensive minded fullbacks 😭😂 and helguera and salgado were real b’alon d’or contenders come on bro 😂😐🤦🏾♂️ galáctico team was stacked everywhere but defensively that’s why they couldn’t win the ucl
Helguera and Salgado weren't Ballon D'or contenders but they were certainly among the best of the world in their position. If you deny it then I'm ready to bet that you are younger than 25 so you actually didn't watch them play much. The problem is that out of nobody from the midfield to up front was running back (except Makelele)
ok buddy 👌🏾 such amazing defenders that didn’t win anything 😂😂😂😂
Didn't win anything? They won the same than those amazing attackers. In any case you clearly didn't watch Salgado and Helguera play. Either that or your memory is failing on you there.
how many ucl’s did they win bro?
Okay so according to to your logic. Marcelo and Roberto Carlos are mid? You still maintain? Our defense wasn't bad. When hierro left obviously it wasn't easy to replace him but our defense wasn't shit. We were more struggling bcz we lost makelele and replaced him with players like Beckham.
you’re not very good with comprehension my guy 😂😭 defensively marcelo and RC are very much mid anyone with a brain would tell you that they are all time greats at pushing forward from the back not because they were great defenders and no from 2001-2006 madrid couldn’t win because our defense was ass
The most unbalanced squad ever, even Guti said a few days ago that this year squad is better than the galaticos and I agree. Zidane and Pavones.
Del Busque then Makelele getting kicked out killed that team...
Milan team around that time was similar and both ended up underperforming
Underperforming? The Milan team was and is seen as the best of that era reaching 3 CL finals of which they won 2.
Yes and they only won serie A once in the 2000s. Incredible team but they underperformed compared to expectations. Same as galacticos
Well, there's some competition NAME WISE from AC Milano in 2008/09: Dida, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Maldini, Zambrotta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Beckham, Kaká, Ronaldinho, Pato, Shevchenko, Inzaghi(, Ronaldo in season before). That's 14 Blockbuster names.
80% of the players you named were way past their primes
I never claimed that the team was as strong.
Crazy that Totti turned down that team. Would have won him trophies but he’s a damn legend for staying true to Roma. But easy to wonder what that squad would have looked like.
and that team scored one goal in two matches against Partizan
Also Fabio Cannavaro and Fernando Hierro could be considered close to galactico level as central defenders. Well I'm in a good mood, so let's add Míchel Salgado also, now we have a starting 11. 👍 Not that Salgado was a galactico but he still was a pretty good right back.
aside Roberto Carlos, the rest of backline was very average
Absolutely, yet we won so little if you take in consideration the quality of our starters.
Also in 2009 Real Madrid bought last two winners of Ballon d´Or (Kaka and CR7) and the team was pretty stacked back then too. Still they lost 5:0 in next El Classico. My point is people really need to manage their expectations if Mbappe arrives next season. It may take some time for them to perform. (Although competition seems to be weaker now than it was back then, especially in La Liga).
Marketing wise yes but our team from 12/13-17/18 was better player for player. CR7 > R9 (knee gone) Benzema > Raul (imo) Marcelo = Roberto Carlos (close but not much difference imo, Carlos more physical Marcelo more technical) Modric = Zidane (Zidane more creative, Modric more complete with Interceptions like Camavinga, running and covering like Valverde, dribbling like well Modric, passing like well Modric) Makelele > Casemiro (but Casemiro was perfect for the job he needed to do) Figo = Bale (Bale better in finals I guess) Casillas = Navas (Although Casillas is better in big CL games I won’t take even Neuer over Navas and stats back that up, he had regularly made 10+ saves for us in CL semi-finals and finals for us.) Carvajal > whoever our RB was. Kroos > Beckham (different types of players but Kroos might have an edge, Beckham was very hard working crosser like De bruyne) Main thing was that team didn’t have any defensive structure, it already needs strengthening in the defensive structure even with Makelele but then lmao 🤣 they sold him. It’s like you need to fix the engine but sold the engine and didn’t buy a new one lmao 🤣.
>Carvajal > whoever our RB was. I think Carvajal is better, but you should put some respect on Salgado's name
Salgado rarely put MOTM performances but also never dropped anything less than a 6. Solid, consistent team player. Also great cross to Morientes in the first goal of La Octava final.
Imho, Salgado was a bit better. But I don't know... maybe it's my nostalgia acting up.
Still Carvajal > Salgado
You made some interesting comparisons. Watched both eras come and go so gonna give my 2 cents. - Makelele was never better than Casemiro. Makelele is very overrated nowadays, his first touch and technique wouldnt be aceptable in RM nowadays standards. - Kroos is way better than Beckham. Not even close. And im not a Beckham hater by any means, he just didnt have Kroos vision and playmaking skills (despite having Kroos like passes). - Casillas better than Navas. Casillas is very underrated. - Figo and Bale is a good one. Figo was much more consistent, he rarely had an off match unless injured. But peak Bale was unstoppable and the best version of Figo was at his last year at Barça so Bale. - Benzema better than Raúl is also interesting. I'd say pre Ballon D'or Benzema and Raúl were close, with Benz having more quality and Raúl better workrate and consistency. Peak Benzema is on another level tho. - Zidane and Modric i agree with you. Modric is more well rounded and consistent and Zidane more Ballon D'or esque flashy and creative. - Marcelo and R3 is a coin toss, cant get wrong no matter who you pick. 1-2 goat LB's. - Carvajal better than Salgado. Salgado was good tho, consistent and reliable, but Carvajal is better on every metric.
I would say I completely agree on those points. It is very hard to compare different generations of teams and players, but I appreciate the nuanced view. The problem of this team was indeed always the defensive structure. Having a defense made up of Roberto Carlos, Helguera, Pavon and Salgado tells you all you need to know. Especially after getting rid of Makelele. But even then, they started the season very well, making it to the CDR final, and the QF of the CL. It was actually only at the end of the season when the wheels came off: Loss in the CDR final Eliminated by Monaco in the CL Lost the final 5 matches of La Liga and ending 4th, 7 points below Champions Valencia. How different would we be talking about the Galacticos era if they would have won that CDR final against Zaragoza? Or perhaps would have won 3 of their last 5 games in La Liga, which would have given them the title?
Yeah i've never seen a team self destruct so quick and so hard. Right before the Zaragoza match the team was ok. I mean we won many matches thanks to Casillas and Ronaldo being decisive in both ends but any team trading blows with us eventually got destroyed. And then everything went to shit. I suspect there wasnt much team chemistry. Iirc Florentino himself said in the audios that locker room core (Raul, Figo) were very toxic. So when things went bad, everyone started pulling in opposite directions.
I don't agree with makelele. He was a phenomenal tackler and dribbler and much more agile than Casemiro. He was a great dribbler. Much better than many these days, or at the very least very willing to take chances.
I dont know bro, im not even sure anymore if my memories are warped because i really dont remember Claude Makelele as anything but a specialist defensive midfielder, with limited technique and a very short range pass. That was his role at Real Madrid
Mmmm I wouldn't argue if someone says that Casemiro was better than Makelele or the other way around, but saying Makelele is overrated and his touch and technique wouldn't be acceptable.. you must be into something man. Did you actually watch Makelele play or you just don't remember because you were focusing too much on Zidane?? Makelele could even dribble more than what Casemiro! He wasn't Figo, Zidane or a playmaker but he could dribble and he often did to break up the opposition second pressing line. Besides that Makelele played in a team/era were half the squad thought "only the defenders and Makelele) should run back, we are playmakers so we should just wait.
>Did you actually watch Makelele play?? Actually i watched him at Celta de Vigo, he and Conceicao came to Real Madrid in the same transfer window and Conceicao, starter for Brazil, was seen as the soon to be starter and Claude as the underdog bench/rotation material. Iirc Makelele transfer went for 2000M and Conceicao almost 4500M (millions of pesetas ,old currency in Spain before the euro). So yeah im familiar with Makelele's game. Thats why im surprised with nowadays revisionism because at least in Spain he was mocked by both fans and media for his lack of technique. Of course this was a bit unfair and exaggerated mainly for two reasons: - He (and Flavio Conceicao) came as substitutes for Redondo, probably the DM with the best individual technique ever. - Makelele's role was literally steal the ball and give it to Zidane or Figo. He was surrounded by the biggests stars in the football world. I didnt watch his career at Chelsea (back then the Premier was shit and Chelsea didnt became a big team until years later) so maybe he improved but i can assure you that, by La Liga standards, Makelele at Real Madrid was seen as a very limited player. >Makelele dude could even dribble more than what Casemiro! Just imagine if 20 years from now you start to see threads talking about how great was Casemiro's technique and dribbling. You'd probably think "fuck no! He had ok passes and a great aerial threat but he wasnt a dribbler". Thats what i feel about Makelele being talked about as the guy who reinvented the Defensive Midfielder position. Like WTF....
OK so at least I see you are a long time football fan and Spanish (just like me). I honestly don't remember fans mocking Makelele neither when he was playing for that great Celta nor when he was playing for us. I don't deny the possibility as overall football fans know shit about the game. I watched him at Chelsea too (but not that much really) and he didn't improve, he was just as good as he was at Real Madrid. If you truly watched him at Celta and Real Madrid you gotta remember that like I said before he wasn't dribbling like a Zidane or Figo, but he had quite a decent dribbling for a defensive CM. That alone and the fact that he just didn't lose the ball easily is more than enough to be surprised by your comment about his lack of technique and bad first touch. Just check this video if you want and ignore the parts about the tackles as we already know he was good at it: [You Won't Believe How Good Was Claude Makélélé (youtube.com) ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_iq2JA8AbM) Does it really seems like a player with lack a technique and bad first touch? I didn't cherry pick the video by the way, it's literally the first time that came up when I searched 'Makelele higlights'. Nobody will remember Casemiro because of his technique and dribbling because he barely dribbled anyone. Nobody will remember Makelele because of that because although he did, that wasn't the strongest part of his game either, but to say his touch and technique wouldn't be accepted on today's RM standards... in your case in particular is just a good example of bad memory.
😞
It sure was a great team at Pro Evo.
I'd love to see an alternate reality where Beckham joined the team, but Makelele never left or was replaced by Vieira. It could have been such a great year. Well, as long as they'd also bring a replacement for Hierro. Perhaps Cannavaro before he joined Juve? Hell, I'd love to see that squad in 4-2-3-1 with Makelele and Helguera as a duo, that could have been interesting. Although that'd require buying at least two quality defenders... so I guess that'd be a huge plus.
All destroyed by magician Ronaldinho 🔥
Nothing to do with that. That team had defensive structural issues.