New-look Italy triumphs in old-world San Siro as Roberto Mancini's rebuild begins

Milan's San Siro stadium is one of Europe's great vintage cauldrons. Built 100 years ago in 1926, it has been endlessly renovated and extended, but it hasn't seen significant changes since the 1980s. It's a hulking mass of steel and concrete, a proper European brutalist structure whose hard edges make the games it host feel hard, too.

It won't be around forever. Its two main tenants, AC Milan and Inter Milan, announced this year that they'll be collaborating on a new stadium to take its place. It's hard to blame them. The existing San Siro is historic, yes, but it's also a crumbling mess, one that FIFA and UEFA deemed unfit for serious international competition.

It was poignant, then, that the venerable San Siro managed to hang on to host the Italian national team's crucial Nations League clash with France on Thursday, Nov. 12. The Italian national team and the San Siro have plenty in common: Both have been around for a century, both have witnessed world-conquering highs and both are in desperate need of a rebuild. Their paths crossed at the perfect time.

The San Siro's rebuild is coming in the next few years; Italy's, it seems, is already upon us. The team pulled off a 3-1 victory over France that pushed it tantalizingly close to a Nations League quarterfinal berth. It was Italy's first win over the French at home in 64 years, and it felt right to see it come under the brutalist concrete stands of the San Siro: gli Azzurri have always thrived in shades of gray.

Imperfect but spirited

Italy hasn't made a World Cup appearance since 2014. There's an entire generation of Italian children who have never seen gli Azzurri take the field on the world's biggest stage. With failure like that in the rearview mirror, perfection isn't the goal for this team; confidence is.

Returning Italy coach Roberto Mancini did his best to imbue his players with that sense of belief. 

"The coach told us before the game these are nights we'll remember when we are old, so we knew that we had to make it count," said defender Giorgio Scalvini, per Football Italia (h/t Yahoo Sports).

Italy started the match well, but an early mistake from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma gifted France the opening goal. The team was forced to settle and return to basics: a deep defensive block, longer balls from the goalkeeper instead of neat inside-the-box passes and quick counters when it counted. It was that formula that saw Pio Esposito equalize in the 26th minute; it was that same formula that saw veteran Davide Frattesi snatch the go-ahead goal in the 63rd.