Balagué, drawing from several books, documentaries and archival clips from Spanish-language media, covers well-trodden territory ... None of which, admittedly, is particularly new. What differentiates Balagué’s biography from previous attempts is his access to members of Maradona’s inner circle, especially his longtime personal trainer, giving a fresh texture and context to Maradona’s victories and crises ... These moments, when Balagué is at his best, are rendered in highly readable, if sometimes clumsy, prose. But this biography falls short in many other ways. Any discussion of Argentine politics is strained, ham-fisted and usually treated as a vehicle for highlighting Maradona’s sometimes unifying, other times polarizing effect. His long, if disappointing, coaching career receives only fleeting mention, as does the ongoing struggle with addiction that slowly led to his death. The result is an incomplete portrait.
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