My interest in football was largely inspired by Marco van Basten’s legendary show in Euro88. Strangely, I never watched a single game of that tournament—I only learned about his glorious triumph from a cousin, almost a year later—but that did not stop me from eagerly falling into his fandom, the only one I ever joined.  With the benefit of hindsight, this feels like a perfect example of irrationality in human emotions, as epitomized in Stephen Chow’s famous inquiry, “Don’t I need a reason to fall in love with someone, do I, don’t I, do I,…”

Unfortunately, my only hero was also a tragic one.  Like Achilles, van Basten has a foot problem.  During the time that I fanatically follow him, van Basten lost the World Cup and the Euro Cup in a row; in the latter he missed a penalty kick that doomed his team.  In late 1992, he ordered a surgery on his right ankle, which ended his career right at its peak; he was only 28 and just named the FIFA player of the year.  I was deeply saddened by the departure of van Basten, so much so that my interest in football had never fully recovered from that sense of loss, unfairness, and tragedy.

I cannot say van Basten’s memoir is an interesting read for everyone. The book is written in a somewhat informal style, perhaps designed to create an impression of authenticity and intimacy, but it does at times hurt the coherence and clarity in storytelling.   If you were a fan, however, you may enjoy many of the personal stories: the immense suffering he endured from the ankle, the intriguing tax fraud case, the fond recollections of Berlusconi (his boss at AC Milan and the notorious prime minister of Italy), and the mediocre coaching career.  To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure about the idea of reading the memoir of someone whom I have idolized for so long, perhaps to evade the inevitable revelation that my tragic hero was a mirage, after all. In the end, that was exactly what I had discovered, but the experience was more fun than I thought: no regret or disappointment, just closing a chapter in life with a bit of nostalgia and relief.