Kolkata : Kylian Mbappe has touched new heights with goalscoring records for France. He scored his 57th and 58th goals for France in the 3-1 win against Senegal.
Mbappe has overtaken Olivier Giroud at the top of the all-time scoring charts for Les Bleus. He will aim to add to his 14 World Cup goals as the finals unfold.
“I play to make my mark on my country’s history, to ensure my team reaches the final and wins the World Cup. The rest will simply be part of who I am and my career.”
Kylian Mbappe sounded pretty sanguine after setting a new French national-team goalscoring record with his match-winning double in Tuesday’s Group I opener against Senegal.
However, there was no disguising the France captain’s emotional reaction on the pitch following his explosive 90+6 minute strike in New York New Jersey which clinched the national record outright from previous holder Olivier Giroud as well as sealing Les Bleus’ victory.
Mbappe had fielded questions about the record, held by Giroud since Qatar 2022, for months, telling journalists at one press conference: “I think I’ll beat him. I’ll be happy and then I’ll move on.”
The 27-year-old’s magic moment arrived at New York New Jersey Stadium. The precursor was his 66th-minute first-time finish across the goalkeeper after connecting with Michael Olise’s diagonal pass. That brought the skipper level on 57 goals with Giroud, whose own haul had come from 137 matches.
The Real Madrid ace had required 38 games fewer to reach that mark, and he eclipsed it with a thunderbolt from the blue deep into stoppage time. Seizing on a loose ball, Mbappe unleashed a 30-yard shot that zipped past Edouard Mendy. It was a goal layered with meaning – securing both the win, following a Senegal goal moments earlier, and the national-team record – as attested by his emphatic celebration.
Giroud told the BBC, “I’m really happy for him”, after having already praised his former strike partner during his match punditry duties, saying: “I think he can easily reach 100 goals.”
The next milestone will come with Mbappe’s 100th cap if he features against Iraq in Philadelphia on Monday. For now, though, he can savour an achievement that looks all the more remarkable considering that the two players who top the world rankings for international goals, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, reached this same figure after 126 and 116 matches respectively.
Mbappe opened his France account back on 31 August 2017, sealing a 4-0 victory with an added-time strike against the Netherlands at the Stade de France. Since then, he has scored in every continental and global competition. His tally includes a goal in France’s World Cup final win over Croatia in 2018 and an unforgettable hat-trick in the 2022 final, when Les Bleus were ultimately beaten by Argentina on penalties.
Already the all-time top marksman for Paris Saint-Germain with 256 goals in 308 appearances in all competitions, the former Monaco prodigy now owns the record for his national team.
The next target will be Miroslav Klose’s 16-goal World Cup scoring record after Monday’s brace lifted him above Pele (12), Lionel Messi and France great Just Fontaine (both 13) and level with Gerd Muller on 14.
