Kylian Mbappé (23) has already passed Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Maradona in terms of World Cup goals | football world cup

Mbappé will turn 24 on December 20. Two days before his 24th birthday, the attacker from Bondy can become world champion for the second time with France, which will face England or Senegal in the quarterfinals on Saturday evening. If Mbappé continues his form, France has a good chance of becoming two world titles in a row after Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).

In any case, Mbappé leads the top scorers ranking at the World Cup in Qatar. Oliver Giroud, Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Marcus Rashford (England) and Álvaro Morata (Spain) currently share second place with three goals.

Mbappé already has nine hits after eleven World Cup matches. This puts him on a level with Lionel Messi, but the 35-year-old Argentinian already played his 23rd game against Australia on Saturday evening at his fifth World Cup. Mbappé has already passed Cristiano Ronaldo (eight in 20 matches) and Diego Maradona (eight in 21 matches). Mbappé can now hunt Gary Lineker and Gabriel Batistuta, two of the six players with ten World Cup goals. The all-time top scorer at World Cups is Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 times in 24 matches in four final tournaments.

Given his age, Mbappé is well on track to break that record, but of course it is difficult to look into the future. Thomas Müller was 24 years old when he scored ten goals after thirteen matches after his first two World Cups (in 2010 and 2014). Müller also played at the 2018 World Cup and this World Cup in Qatar, but both times he failed to score in three matches and Germany was already eliminated in the group stage.

In any case, Mbappé is the youngest player to score five goals in the knockout stages of the World Cup since Brazilian football legend Pelé, with whose health it’s not going well.

Olivier Giroud became France’s all-time top scorer with his opening goal against Poland. The 36-year-old striker of AC Milan now has 52 goals in 117 international matches. He is now over Thierry Henry, who scored 51 times in 123 international matches.

The French goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris (35) also experienced a nice milestone. The veteran Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper stood under the crossbar for the 142nd time in the France national team, leveling with record international Lilian Thuram. Lloris will therefore only be at the top of that list against England or Senegal on Saturday, in which Henry and Giroud are the numbers three and four. Antoine Griezmann (31), who has played 71 international matches in a row with France, has 114 international matches and can therefore take another shot at Lloris’ record.

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