Mark van Bommel welcomes Zinedine Zidane showdown as Belgium face France

Van Bommel made an impressive start as Belgium coach on Friday, guiding his side to a 2-0 victory over Italy in Rome. He wants his team to maintain the attacking approach that brought them success in his first game.

"I started last Monday by emphasising intensity and willingness to work," Van Bommel told reporters on Sunday.

"The idea has to remain the same. Of course, you have to take the quality of the opponent into account, but that does not change our style of play.

"If you are beaten in a situation, that's not a problem. As long as everyone knows what they have to do."

Monday's meeting will also be Zidane's second match in charge of France after he began his reign with a 1-0 win away to Turkey on Friday.

Van Bommel is relishing the chance to face the former Real Madrid and France great, having played against Zidane during his own playing career.

"It is special to coach against someone like that," he said.

"He was an exceptional footballer and I played against him once, with Barcelona against Real Madrid. If a dribbling move is named after you, then you must have done pretty well.

"As a coach too, of course. He is a good coach, that's clear."

Van Bommel would also have preferred to see Mbappe involved. The France captain suffered a hyperextension of his left knee during the win in Turkey and has since returned to Real Madrid.

"I think it's a shame that Mbappe isn't there, because you always want to have the best footballers playing against you," Van Bommel said.

"I don't know exactly what injury he has, but I would have liked him to be there."

Van Bommel has enjoyed an eventful start to his new job. Before taking charge of Belgium, he watched his son Ruben make his Netherlands debut against Germany and provide a late assist for the equaliser in Amsterdam.

"As a father, you see your son make his debut for the Netherlands, that is already something special," Van Bommel said.

"We happened to be watching on the phone with a large part of the coaching staff, and then he provides an assist like that. It's fantastic. I would have liked to have been in the stadium.

"We then also beat Italy. It was two wonderful days."