Sócrates, the chain-smoking football genius

The book captures the insouciance, glory and contradictions of former Brazilian captain's life

Scanning through Andrew Downie’s Doctor Sócrates: Footballer, Philosopher, Legend, you’re tempted to compare, for his affable smugness and towering persona, the former maverick Brazilian midfielder with another larger-than-life genius in Eric Cantona. In other parts, his incessant carousing and perilous womanising make you instantly think of George Best, who for all his paranormal talent, was always more interested in a sundowner or two than serious footballing matters.
 
On the pitch, however, Sócrates was both. He possessed the I-make-everyone-better virtuosity of Cantona and the defender-circling finesse and hubris of Best — a utopian world that joyously played out first on