Atalanta has cut a swath through Serie A these last few years, winning games and friends in equal measure. And, most important, this is meant to be soccer’s elite competition, the ultimate test of greatness, the stage on which legends are born and stars are made. You will often hear the argument that Lionel Messi cannot be regarded as a true great — whatever that means — until he has won the World Cup, just as Pelé and Diego Maradona and Roque Júnior did. In Pelé’s era, the only place where the very best of a generation would meet was the World Cup; it was, then, the ultimate test. It is not meant to be a place of playground scorelines and dispiriting blowouts.

Source: New York Times October 25, 2019 15:56 UTC