Claude Makelele has dampened the furore over his selection by
France, describing the claims by Jose Mourinho that he was being
treated like "a slave" as excessive and emphasising that he takes
great pride in playing for his country.
Chelsea's midfielder is believed to have verbally agreed with
Mourinho last year that he would retire from international football
after this summer's World Cup.
It was assumed Makelele would concentrate on Chelsea after the
World Cup, having initially stepped down from internationals in
2004. However, Makelele disputed that he was being treated like a
slave by France's coach, Raymond Domenech. "My coach's [Mourinho's]
words are a bit too strong, he's probably gone too far,"
Mourinho has said Makelele had to accept the call-up, claiming for
every France game the midfielder refused to play in, he would be
forced to miss two Chelsea matches. A similar threat was first
raised by Domenech but in fact Fifa's regulations merely state that
a refusenik international cannot turn out for his club during the
period of the release or for five days afterwards.
"There is no Fifa rule to prevent any
player stopping his international career, that's up to him," a
spokesman for world football's governing body said. "The one thing
that has to be considered is that the intention to leave a national
team or put an end to an international career needs to be
communicated prior to a specific summons."
Mourinho may want Makelele to explain to him why he has been
persuaded to continue with France. "We take these players but we
don't have a knife against their necks," Domenech said.
