Portuguese football manager José Mourinho’s new Netflix documentary has garnered mixed reviews, with critics saying it lacks the depth one would expect from a definitive portrait of football’s most fascinating manager. The three-part series, released on Tuesday, follows Mourinho's extraordinary journey from Porto to Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and beyond, and includes interviews with many legendary former players. Filmed over 2 years, the series is a slick rehash of Mourinho's career and offers an exclusive behind the scenes look into the legend's iconic career and tactical mind.   

But beneath the polished career retrospective, critics say the documentary fails to uncover the more complicated man behind the famous Mourinho persona. 

Netflix’s José Mourinho documentary is not delivering on the incisive character study promised, as its slick three-part treatment is more a career recap than revelation. The series, directed by Joe Pearlman, was promoted as an attempt to get under the skin of the Special One, with access to Mourinho and a bunch of former players and his rivals. But the manager's famous public image is still protected, and questions remain unanswered.

The problem is not a lack of material. The documentary features people like Iker Casillas, John Terry, and Sir Alex Ferguson, as Mourinho’s career is full of controversy, victories, dressing-room feuds, and relationships. It reveals the time when the manager turned down the chance to replace Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013. But it actually skims over these stories without going into depth. These controversies are acknowledged rather than examined, and Mourinho’s guarded nature restricts the emotional access the series requires.

Its best moments are when Mourinho lets his guard down for a moment, such as when talking about his father's death and his relationship with family. But these are too infrequent to make the series a revealing portrait. His resistance frustrated the filmmakers, with Mourinho shutting down questions about his vulnerabilities and third-season syndrome. That tension is fascinating, but the documentary rarely develops it into a sustained investigation. Instead, the documentary opts for familiar anecdotes, plaudits from players, and a polished retelling of Mourinho’s extraordinary career.

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That shortfall becomes even more noticeable when compared with Netflix’s earlier football documentaries. 

Netflix had already delivered us richer portraits of football legends via documentaries such as Beckham (2023) and Pelé (2021). Beckham followed the career of David Beckham, his family life, intense media attention, and his personal struggles, while Pelé examined the incredible rise of the Brazilian legend and his role in the political and social history of Brazil. Both documentaries went beyond trophies and statistics to explore the people behind the footballers, making more intimate character studies than a career retrospective usually would. 

On the other hand, Mourinho does a good job of revisiting the extraordinary career of one of football’s most fascinating figures, but it fails to deliver the definitive documentary that his story deserves. Access, major revelations, and glimpses of vulnerability are there, but rarely enough to get beyond Mourinho's carefully constructed persona. Compared to Netflix’s more intimate portraits of Beckham and Pelé, the series feels restrained when it should be probing. But with a figure as complex and controversial as Mourinho, the documentary is more about wanting more answers than more history. 

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Do you think José Mourinho’s Netflix documentary explores the Special One's life properly? Let us know in the comments.