Mbappé, the youth creator of World Cup goals

Kylian Mbappé had the password for the quarterfinals in his legs and is making Qatar his World Cup record. The French striker scored his eighth and ninth World Cup goals in France’s 3-1 win against Poland. It is the second double that Mbappé has registered in the tournament, after getting the first in the 2-1 win against Denmark in the group stage.

He leads the race for the Golden Boot (award given to the tournament’s top scorer) with five goals, more than the six players who have scored (until December 4) three goals including Lionel Messi, Olivier Giroud and Marcus Rashford .

Mbappé surpassed his childhood hero Cristiano Ronaldo (8) and equaled Lionel Messi (9) in total World Cup goals all at 23, with just 11 appearances he has played. Furthermore, he has only appeared in two editions of the tournament, in 2018 and 2022, and France could still have three potential games to play in Qatar.

He is averaging 0.82 goals in each World Cup game and still has minutes and career time left to search for Miroslav Klose’s record 16 goals and the French national record of 13 scored by Just Fontaine.

Mbappé is the all-time leading goalscorer for players his age and younger, surpassing legendary soccer icon Pelé with nine goals. He and Pelé were level going into the game against Poland with seven goals each, but Mbappé took two goals ahead.

He has become France’s seventh all-time goalscorer with 33 goals in 63 games, 19 behind overall leader Olivier Giroud. He needs one goal to match David Trezeguet’s 34-goal effort, and ten more to move past his teammate Antione Greizmann and into the top three.

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