20 July,2026 08:59 AM IST | Miami | Agencies
Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his record 22nd World Cup goal during France’s third-place match against England in Miami on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Kylian Mbappe made history at the World Cup on Saturday. He would have preferred a different outcome.
The France star moved past Argentina's Lionel Messi for the career World Cup scoring record with 22 goals, scoring twice in a 4-6 loss to England in a third-place match.
Mbappe finished this World Cup with 10 goals, two more than Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament's top scorer. "When you score a lot of goals in the World Cup, it makes you evolve in certain spheres. I would have liked not to have been the top scorer in history and played the [final]," Mbappe said.
"It's good for everything that is heritage, but it's not the first thing that crosses my mind," he added.
Mbappe scored eight goals to win the Golden Boot four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final.
His 10 in this year's tournament matched the third most in a World Cup. Just Fontaine had a record 13 goals for France in 1958, Sandor Kocsis of Hungary scored 11 in 1954, and West Germany's Gerd Muller had 10 in 1970.
Mbappe's quest for the Golden Boot appeared to be going nowhere when France trailed 4-0 at half-time. Then Mbappe and France came alive in the second half. He flicked a shot past England goalkeeper Dean Henderson in the 48th minute to begin a rally for Les Bleus, who also got goals from Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele.
Michael Olise added two assists, setting a record with seven in this World Cup, one more than Brazil's Pele, who had six assists in 1970. France pulled within 4-3 on Mbappe's second goal, when he beat Henderson again with a left-footed strike from about 14 yards in the 66th minute to pass Messi's career mark of 21 goals.
Five
No. of goals scored by Mbappe from Michael Olise's assists in the ongoing World Cup - the most goals resulting from one player's assist to another in a single edition in the last 60 years
14
No. of goals scored by Mbappe outside the group stage in World Cup history - the most by any player
Three
No. of World Cups Kylian Mbappe took to reach a record 22 goals - compared to six World Cups for Lionel Messi, the only other player to score 20-plus World Cup goals (21)
Four
Kylian Mbappe is the fourth player to score 10 or more goals in a single World Cup edition after Sandor Kocsis (11 goals in 1954), Just Fontaine (13 in 1958), and Gerd Muller (10 in 1970)
Ten
No. of goals scored by Kylian Mbappe in the ongoing World Cup - the first player to hit the double-digit mark in a single edition since West Germany's Gerd Muller (10 in 1970)
14
No. of goal contributions (10 goals, four assists) by Mbappe in the ongoing FIFA World Cup - the most by any player in a single edition since West Germany's Gerd Muller (13 goal contributions; 10 goals, three assists) in 1970
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