Serie A, selected

Serie A's all-time squad feels like a graduate course in football control. Not control as endless possession, necessarily, but control of space, danger, rhythm and psychological pressure.

The defensive base is almost unfair: Italy's own school of centre-backs and sweepers meets some of the greatest imported defenders ever to play in Europe. This league can build a back line that does not simply stop attacks; it educates them into worse choices.

Midfield gives the side its real range. There are registi, ball-winners, elegant interiors and explosive number tens, so the team can slow the game into calculation or suddenly turn it into invention. That is very Serie A: chessboard first, dagger second.

The attack has myth and violence in equal measure. Maradona, Ronaldo, Van Basten, Platini and the wider canon give the league enough genius to win without needing a perfect collective day.

So, well, the verdict is clear: this is probably the most tactically complete league XI in the database. Maybe not always the fastest or most naturally chaotic, but absurdly hard to read, harder to break, and lethal once the match becomes tense.