Roma and France midfielder Manu Kone has revealed what has surprised him most after getting to work under Zinedine Zidane during the international break, and has warned that Friday night’s Nations League meeting will be an ‘important’ match for a ‘rebuilding’ Italy side.

France will host Italy at the Stade de France in the third round of 2026-27 UEFA Nations League group stage fixtures on Friday evening, kicking off at 19.45 BST.

The Italy clash will be Zidane’s first home match as head coach of the France national team, following 1-0 away victories against Turkiye and Belgium over the last week.

Roberto Mancini, who is three matches into his second spell as Italy CT, lost 2-0 at home to Belgium in his first game back in charge, but bounced back with an encouraging 4-1 victory away against Vincenzo Montella’s Turkiye on Monday evening.

Roma midfielder Kone was selected for pre-match media duties in the France camp on Wednesday afternoon and discussed the upcoming test and life under Zidane at a press conference at Clairefontaine.

“I know it’s an important match for Italy because we’re a very strong nation in their eyes, we have a lot of good players,” Kone told reporters (via l’Equipe ).

“(Gianluca) Mancini and (Bryan) Cristante) tell me all the time in training that it’s going to be a massive game and that they’ve got a lot of room for improvement.

“They’re rebuilding, going through a complicated period, but we will just focus on ourselves. We know that we are France, we have incredible players. We’re also keen to win in the coach’s first game at the Stade de France.”