Kylian Mbappe has won the Golden Boot at the World Cup in Qatar, after scoring a hat-trick in France's defeat by Argentina in Sunday's final.
The prize is awarded to the player who has scored the most goals at the most recent edition of the tournament, an accolade that Mbappe secured on Sunday (18 December) by netting for the sixth, seventh and eighth times at the Qatar World Cup.
France forward Mbappe entered the final having scored five goals, level with Paris Saint-Germain teammate Lionel Messi but with two assists to the Argentine's three, making Messi the frontrunner for the prize.
And Messi seemed to have wrapped up the Golden Boot after opening the scoring with a first-half penalty, a platform that Argentina built upon when Angel Di Maria made it 2-0 before half time. But with 10 minutes left in normal time, Mbappe scored his own penalty before completing a brace with a half-volley just 97 seconds later.
The Golden Boot then again looked to be going home with Messi in extra time, when the 35-year-old scored a close-range goal to put Argentina 3-2 up, but Mbappe netted another penalty minutes later to equalise once more and beat Messi in the race for the solo prize.
Argentina then won on penalties, with Mbappe and Messi scoring in the shootout, though shootout goals do not count towards the Golden Boot.
Mbappe’s goals on Sunday also made him the first man ever to score four goals in World Cup finals, and the second ever to score a hat-trick in a final – the first since Geoff Hurst in England’s 1966 triumph over West Germany.
Behind Mbappe and Messi in the standings were France's Olivier Giroud, who became his nation's all-time leading scorer during this tournament, and Argentina's Julian Alvarez. Both strikers had scored four times ahead of the final without recording any assists. Giroud, however, was taken out of the running when he was substituted after Argentina made it 2-0 in the first half.
Mbappe, who turns 24 on Tuesday (20 December), scored his first goal of the tournament in France's opening game, as the defending champions registered a 4-1 victory over Australia. The PSG forward then netted both of France's goals in a 2-1 win against Denmark, before coming off the bench against Tunisia and failing to score as Les Bleus lost 1-0.
In the last 16, Mbappe scored twice again, helping Didier Deschamps' side to a 3-1 victory, before he drew a blank against England in the quarter-finals, though France emerged 2-1 winners anyway.
In the 2-0 semi-final victory over Morocco, France's goals again came from elsewhere, before the French faced Argentina in the final and Mbappe netted his quickfire double and extra-time penalty.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where England's Harry Kane claimed the Golden Boot with six goals, Mbappe scored four times.
Aged 19 at the time, Mbappe became the youngest player to score in a World Cup final since Pele did so for Brazil in 1958. The Frenchman netted his side's final goal in a 4-1 win against Croatia.
List of previous Golden Boot winners
| World Cup | Top goalscorer | Goals | Runner(s)-up | Goals | Third place | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 Uruguay | Guillermo Stabile | 8 | Pedro Cea | 5 | Bert Patenaude | 4 |
| 1934 Italy | Oldrich Nejedly | 5 | Edmund Conen, Angelo Schiavio | 4 | None | — |
| 1938 France | Leônidas | 7 | Gyorgy Sarosi, Gyula Zsengeller, Silvio Piola | 5 | None | — |
| 1950 Brazil | Ademir | 8 | Oscar Miguez | 5 | Alcides Ghiggia, Chico, Estanislau Basora, Telmo Zarra | 4 |
| 1954 Switzerland | Sandor Kocsis | 11 | Josef Hugi, Max Morlock, Erich Probst | 6 | None | — |
| 1958 Sweden | Just Fontaine | 13 | Pele, Helmut Rahn | 6 | None | — |
| 1962 Chile | Florian Albert, Valentin Ivanov, Garrincha, Vava, Drazan Jerkovic, Leonel Sanchez | 4 | None | — | None | — |
| 1966 England | Eusebio | 9 | Helmut Haller | 6 | Valeriy Porkujan, Geoff Hurst, Ferenc Bene, Franz Beckenbauer | 4 |
| 1970 Mexico | Gerd Muller | 10 | Jairzinho | 7 | Teofilo Cubillas | 5 |
| 1974 West Germany | Grzegorz Lato | 7 | Andrzej Szarmach, Johan Neeskens | 5 | None | |
| 1978 Argentina[50] | Mario Kempes | 6 | Teófilo Cubillas | 5 | Rob Rensenbrink | 5 |
| 1982 Spain | Paolo Rossi | 6 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 5 | Zico | 4 |
| 1986 Mexico | Gary Lineker | 6 | Emilio Butragueno, Careca, Diego Maradona | 5 | None | |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci | 6 | Tomas Skuhravy | 5 | Roger Milla, Gary Lineker | 4 |
| 1994 United States | Oleg Salenko, Hristo Stoichkov | 6 | None | — | Kennet Andersson, Romario | 5 |
| 1998 France | Davor Suker | 6 | Gabriel Batistuta, Christian Vieri | 5 | None | |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Ronaldo | 8 | Miroslav Klose, Rivaldo | 5 | ||
| 2006 Germany | Miroslav Klose | 5 | Hernan Crespo | 3 | Ronaldo | 3 |
| 2010 South Africa | Thomas Muller | 5 | David Villa | 5 | Wesley Sneijder | 5 |
| 2014 Brazil | James Rodriguez | 6 | Thomas Muller | 5 | Neymar | 4 |
| 2018 Russia | Harry Kane | 6 | Antoine Griezmann | 4 | Romelu Lukaku | 4 |
