The Neymar roll is a three-part combination: roll the ball across your body with your sole, step over it once with your other leg, then finish with a rabona (your kicking leg wrapped behind your standing leg) past the defender. GOAL describes it as one of Neymar's go-to moves, known as the Neymar Rollover. Each part is a simpler skill, so learn the sole roll, the step-over and the rabona on their own first, then link them.
Set up
Attack the space with the ball under control, and slow down as you get close to the defender.
Ball close, under control.
Pick your stronger foot to roll and finish; your other foot will step over and then become your standing foot.
Know which foot does what.
Roll
Once you are inside the defender's tackling range, put your sole on top of the ball and roll it across your body toward your other foot.
Sole on top, ball rolls under you.
Keep the roll short so the ball stays close enough for the next two moves.
Small roll, not a push.
Step over
As the ball finishes moving across, lift your other leg and step over the ball once, sweeping the foot around the front of it.
One clean step-over.
Plant that foot firmly beside the ball, toes toward where you want to send it. This is now your standing foot.
Plant and hold steady.
Sell the fake with your head and shoulders, but keep your hips over your feet so you are not carried away by your own fake.
Shoulders sell, hips stay home.
Rabona finish
Lean back slightly and away from the ball, bend your standing knee a little, and wrap your rolling foot behind your standing leg.
Wrap behind, standing foot still.
Strike the ball past the defender, keeping your eyes on it, and turn your far shoulder toward the target as you follow through.
Eyes on the ball through contact.
Get your feet back under you straight away and go after the ball. If the plant foot blocks your follow-through, let both feet leave the ground after contact.
Strike, land, chase.
Feel it
It should feel like one flowing sequence: a short sole roll, one step-over that lands as a firm plant, then the wrap behind for the rabona. The ball stays close the whole time, your head and shoulders do the selling, and your hips stay over your feet so you can strike and move off without stumbling.
Fix-its
- The roll pushes the ball too far Keep your sole on top of the ball and roll it only across your body, toward your other foot. If it ends up out of reach, the step-over and rabona can't happen.
- You can't make contact on the rabona Adjust where the step-over foot plants. One coaching source suggests about 7 to 10 inches (18 to 25 cm) from the ball; move it closer or further until you can reach the ball cleanly.
- You fall away after the strike Plant the standing foot firmly and keep a slight bend in that knee. Lean back only slightly, with your arms out for balance.
- The whole body lurches into the step-over Sell with your head and shoulders, not your hips. Expert defenders read where your centre of mass goes, so keep it centred.
- You do it too far from the defender Slow down as you approach and start the roll only once you are inside their tackling range.
Drill
- Learn the rabona on its own from a still ball, slowly, before you try it on the move at different speeds and angles.
- Roll and step over from a standing start, no defender, then stop. Work both feet.
- Walk in, roll, step over and finish with a simple touch away. Add the rabona finish once each part is clean.
- In a 20 x 20 yd area, dribble at a cone or passive defender and use the full move to get past. Work left and right feet.
- Warm up first, and stop if you feel pain in the knee, hip or groin from the wrap-behind.
Sources
- GOAL — Best football skills: how to do the Ronaldo chop, elastico, Cruyff turn and more (2022)
- We Make Footballers (WMF Coaching Team) — How to Master a Rabona (2021)
- Middletown SC — Roll/Roll Push session (Sport Session Planner, 2014)
- The FA Boot Room, Graeme Carrick — How using the sole of the foot can benefit players (2020)
- The Soccer Handbook (Bryan Coe) — The Double Step Over
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting Deception in Movement: The Case of the Side-Step in Rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
Last checked 2026-10-26.