His name was Nereo Rocco but his real surname was Roch, coming from his grandfather’s Austrian origin. Since he was born in Trieste his name was italianized. Before making his way to coaching AC Milan, he had an impressive career with Padova as he produced the best seasons they had ever had until this day. Rocco’s early coaching days, we for the teams he had played for (Triestina and Padova) when he was a young midfielder. But when he joined the Rossoneri in 1961, it was about to get even better.
Nereo joined Milan as was preferred by Viani at the time, and he took over from Todeschini (also the year Liedholm left). ‘El Paron’ (a Triestine term meaning ‘The Master’) as he was called, would go on to spend 9 years as a Milan coach. Those were not consecutive years, but his impressive leadership would span over 3 separate terms: first in 1961 to 1963, then 1967 to 1973, and finally in 1977.
The tally on the trophies won while he was coach represented a huge number: 2 Champions League Cups (1962–63, 1968–69), 1 Intercontinental Cup (1969), 2 Cup Winners’ Cups (1967–68, 1972–73), 3 Coppa Italia (1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77), and 2 Italian League Championship scudetti (1961–62, 1967–68).
Among his great contributions, he was also known for having introduced the ‘Catenaccio‘ formation, or ‘Door-Chain’ method. It was a tactic usually in form of 1-3-3-3, that was considered excessively defensive due to a free sweeper position located right behind 3 defenders. Although perceived as a defensive formation, Rocco’s Milan had shown to be much more on the attack regardless. As a result of his contributions to the sport of Italian football he was awarded the Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic).
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