Kylian Mbappe scored the first and last of France’s three goals as they shrugged off Sweden to book their spot in the round of 16 at World Cup 2026. They were both quite brilliant. They’re always brilliant.
Mbappe is the Prince of the World Cup and is making a play for the throne. His second goal at New York New Jersey Stadium was his sixth of the competition and took him level at the top of the Golden Boot rankings with fellow former Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi.
Both players have won the World Cup. Both have appeared twice in the final. Both are tipped to be back there captaining France and Argentina in football’s biggest match on July 19.
Why Kylian Mbappe is the World Cup king in waiting
This extraordinary tournament has seen both Messi and Mbappe pass former World Cup record goalscorer Miroslav Klose. The Germany striker scored 16 times in World Cup matches. Messi has 19, Mbappe 18.
The French skipper is expected to surpass Messi, maybe this summer and maybe not, and his age alone means he should get another World Cup at the very least.
But age is just a number and here’s another: Mbappe has played in 18 World Cup matches, 11 fewer than his old teammate.
18 goals in 18 matches is self-evidently a phenomenal record. Of all the players with 10 World Cup goals or more, only Gerd Muller, Just Fontaine and Sandor Kocsis were more prolific and Mbappe has more goals outright than any of them.
Mbappe is an exceptional footballing talent, a prolific and explosive goalscorer – a genius, in they eyes of many – so why has his otherworldly swagger been more pronounced in his three World Cups, each four years apart, than in any of the competitions he’s played in and won in between?
There’s nothing tricky about Mbappe’s World Cup record. 18 goals in 18 games is one goal per game and he’s looked like exactly that kind of player in almost all of them.
It’s a different story in the European Championship.
Mbappe featured in all four matches played by France at the Euros in 2021 without scoring a goal. He was even the only player to miss for either side in the penalty shootout loss against Switzerland.
Three years later at the 2024 tournament, he played five times and scored once, from the penalty spot, against Poland. That’s a total return of one goal in nine European Championship matches and none from open play.
That record across two different European Championships is a curious thing, isn’t it? Is the quality of the opposition a factor?
Mbappe’s World Cup opponents: Australia twice, Peru, Denmark twice, Argentina twice, Uruguay, Belgium, Croatia, Tunisia, Poland, England, Morocco, Senegal, Iraq, Norway, Sweden.
Mbappe’s European Championship opponents: Germany, Hungary, Portugal twice, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Spain.
According to the extremely unscientific method of judging these teams by their current standing in the very-much-live-right-now FIFA World Rankings, Mbappe’s World Cup opponents have an average ranking of 24th, compared to 17th in the Euros.
Flat track bully numbers? Not for me, Clive.
There’s clearly something special, something intangible, about Mbappe and the World Cup, just like Pele and indeed Klose before him, and that’s fine. Let’s just enjoy the magic.
Incidentally, the 27-year-old has played in the Champions League for three different teams.
Mbappe scored six goals in nine appearances for Monaco in 2016-17 and then 42 in 64 matches for PSG.
Since signing for Real Madrid in 2024, the France captain has scored 22 in 25 in the Champions League.
That’s a total of 70 goals in 98 matches at the very highest level of the European club game, which is a tremendous hit-rate but rather less than a goal per game.
With that World Cup crown waiting for him, he probably doesn’t mind.
