Before Giacinto Facchetti, full-backs mostly stayed at home and kicked the winger. The tall Italian had other ideas. He went forward from left-back, scored goals, created chances and then ran back to do his defending as well.
For Inter Milan he scored 75 goals from left-back, an extraordinary return for a defender in any decade. He was part of the Inter side that won two European Cups, in 1964 and 1965, and he spent 18 years at the club, making over 600 appearances without ever playing for anyone else.
Did Facchetti invent the attacking full-back?
He is credited as one of its inventors, and the role we see every weekend now owes a lot to him. An attacking full-back scoring 75 goals in the 1960s would be unusual even today. Back then it was close to unthinkable, and it changed how teams thought about the flanks.
He also captained Italy and won the European Championship in 1968 as the leader of the defence.
He was decades ahead of his time. Every modern full-back who bombs forward is following a path he helped clear, and the Inter man is our number 12.
Tomorrow, number 11 is revealed.
