Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show as France qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a win over Poland – and the Paris Saint-Germain forward also reached a personal landmark.
Mbappe scored twice in the second half as the defending champions eased past Poland with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring just before the interval from Mbappe’s pass to become France’s all-time record goalscorer.
The 23-year-old then stole the show by scoring two stunning strikes. First, he powered an unstoppable shot past the tournament’s outstanding goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, before making it 3-0 with a beautiful curling finish into the far corner.
Robert Lewandowski got a goal back for Poland in injury time from the penalty spot following a handball by Dayot Upamecano, but the goal did little to dampen France and Mbappe’s occasion. His two goals took him clear at the top of the World Cup scoring charts with five strikes – two more than any other player at the time.
They also mean he has nine World Cup goals altogether, which is as many as Lionel Messi and more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Maradona. Ronaldo has scored in every edition of the World Cup he has played in – 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 – yet still only has eight goals in 20 matches.
Messi moved onto nine on Saturday night by scoring the opening goal in Argentina’s 2-1 win over Australia. His strike came in his 1,000th career match and means he has nine goals in 25 matches at World Cups.
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Mbappe, by contrast, has only played 11 matches at World Cups, following his star turn in France’s successful campaign at Russia 2018. His staggering strike rate is shown by the fact that France legend Thierry Henry only managed six goals at World Cups and Zinedine Zidane racked up five in his career.
The PSG star is still seven goals shy of all-time World Cup record goalscorer Miroslav Klose, who has 16 for Germany. But the fact he is only 23 years old means you would have to be a brave person to bet against him getting there in the future.
Altogether, Mbappe has scored 33 goals in 63 games for France. Giroud holds the goalscoring record for Les Bleus, with 52 in 117 matches, but it is likely Mbappe will catch up with him in the coming years.
Mbappe’s performance against Poland saw France book their place in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive World Cup. It is the first time in the nation's footballing history that such a feat has been achieved. They will face the winner of England versus Senegal in the quarter-finals.
