Kylian Mbappe surges past Lionel Messi record in France’s loss to England
Kylian Mbappe and France suffered a disappointing end to their World Cup run with England defeating them 6-4 in the third-place game on Saturday, but France’s superstar set a new record.
The first half saw France fall behind quickly, as England seemed unstoppable. Despite losing to Argentina in the semifinals, they came out fired up with an aggressive scoring attack and built a stunning 4-0 lead by halftime.
Declan Rice struck first with his goal three minutes into the game, followed by an Ezri Konsa goal at 18 minutes. Bukayo Saka scored twice before the half ended to boost the lead further.
However, France attempted to stage an epic comeback in the second half, and Mbappe led the way. He scored at the 48-minute mark to give his team their first goal of the game, and then found the net again at 66 minutes.
With his two goals, Mbappe has moved past Lionel Messi, becoming the all-time World Cup leader in goals scored. He officially ended this year’s tournament with 10 goals and has tallied 22 across all of his World Cup appearances.
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Mbappe’s teammate, Bradley Barcola, added a third goal for his squad in the second half, and Ousmane Dembele scored a fourth goal six minutes into stoppage time. That pulled France to within a one-goal deficit with a bit of stoppage time remaining.
Despite France’s attempt to catch up, England’s Jude Bellingham finished his World Cup by scoring a goal eight minutes into stoppage time to secure the third-place win for his country. The massive win arrived just days after losing to Messi and Argentina in a stunning, late second-half collapse.
Mbappe, 27, previously scored eight goals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and four goals at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
At this year’s event, he scored twice against Senegal, twice against Iraq, and twice against Sweden. He followed that by scoring one goal against Paraguay and one goal against Morocco. While he and France were held scoreless in a 2-0 loss to Spain in the semis, Mbappe added two more goals in Saturday’s loss to England.
His World Cup goals record now stands, at least until Sunday evening, when Messi will be on the pitch to try to help Argentina repeat as World Cup champions. They’ll face a tough task in Lamine Yamal and Spain, who are currently the favorites to win the World Cup.
However, Mbappe has pushed himself to become the new favorite in the race to win the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the player who scores the most goals during the entire event. While that award is another addition to his collection, many expected it would be Mbappe and France competing in Sunday’s game with the World Cup on the line.
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