Yet while Roccotelli is not a household name, he is the inventor of one of the coolest tricks in football, the rabona.
There is a strong chance that you have never heard of him before, which would be understandable given that he had a solid but unspectacular career in Italy in the 70s and 80s, and yet this article really should be called The Joy of Six: Roccotellis. But spare a thought for Giovanni Roccotelli. Antonin Panenka introduced us to the chipped penalty, in France a powerful acrobatic volley is known as ‘ Une Papinade ’ after Jean Pierre-Papin and in England we have the famous Scott Parker 360-degree turn, the envy of the world, and the Ruddockian hoof. Cruyff is not the only player to have a move named after him.
