Makélélé is a midfielder who is so effective in his role that the position he plays is occasionally referred to as “The Makélélé Role”.
In practice, however, Makélélé is probably the world’s only true practitioner of the Makélélé role, since other holding midfielders also get forward and take shots. Makélélé, on the other hand, takes the role to a defensive extreme by taking very few shots (he has attempted less than five shots on goal over the last three years), keeping his passes short and safe, and almost never moving into the attacking third of the pitch.
Clive Tyldesley is a British sport commentator who has said “I have seen one eclipse of the moon, but I’ve never seen a Claude Makélélé goal.”Match report on that goal and Chelsea’s historic defeat here.