Belgium’s new boss Van Bommel relishing clash with Zidane

BRUSSELS, Sept 27 : Belgium coach Mark van Bommel is relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against Zinedine Zidane but is disappointed that Kylian Mbappe will be missing when they host France in the Nations League on Monday.

Van Bommel got off to a dream start in his first game in charge of Belgium with a 2-0 away win over Italy in their Group A1 game on Friday and said he wants his side to keep up the attacking approach they showed in Rome.

"I started (my coaching tenure) last Monday by emphasising intensity and willingness to work," he told a press conference 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.

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

It will also be a second game in charge for Zidane, whose France debut on Friday was a 1-0 win in Turkey where goalscorer Mbappe was injured.

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

"He was an exceptional footballer and I played against him once, with Barca (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.

"I think it's a shame that Mbappe isn't there, because you always want to have the best footballers playing against you. I don't know exactly what injury he has, but I would have liked him to be there," the Belgium coach added.

The France captain has since returned to Real Madrid, who said he had suffered a hyperextension of the left knee.

On the eve of his debut as Belgium coach, former Dutch international Van Bommel watched his son Ruben debut for the Netherlands and set up a dramatic last-gasp equaliser against Germany in Amsterdam on Thursday.

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

"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."

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

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