Kylian Mbappe matches Pele, Zinedine Zidane, breaks Thierry Henry record with World Cup goals for France
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Published 26/11/2022 at 18:44 GMT
Kylian Mbappe scores historic brace to lead France to victory over Denmark and secure his country's progress to the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Mbappe's goalscoring heroics took him past fellow France icon Thierry Henry's national record of World Cup goals and brought him level with Brazilian legend Pele for World Cup goals before the age of 24.
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Kylian Mbappe's brace led France to victory over Denmark, and into the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and wrote himself into the history books in the process.
The Paris Saint-Germain striker scored four goals in France's triumphant 2018 World Cup campaign, and has now added three more in Qatar.
That takes his tally of World Cup goals to seven, eclipsing fellow France icon Thierry Henry's national record of six goals in World Cups.
Mbappe is now level with Pele's all-time record for goals scored at World Cups before the age of 24, and nine goals behind the all-time record of 16 held by Germany's Miroslav Klose.
With two more World Cups highly likely in his future, as well as the remainder of Qatar 2022 and a potential fifth World Cup appearance in 2034 - when he would still only be 35 - Mbappe will surely threaten Klose's record in time.
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Klose set his record in 24 World Cup appearances, while Mbappe has thus far made just nine.
Only 30 men in history have scored more World Cup goals than the 23-year-old PSG star.
Mbappe's brace also took him to 14 goals in his last 12 appearances for France, and 31 total international goals for his country, moving him level with French icon Zinedine Zidane.
Mbappe and Zidane are now level as the seventh highest scorers in French history.
Current team-mates Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud sit ahead of Mbappe. Giroud's total of 51 is the current leader, but surely Mbappe will set an all-time mark for France, too.
David Trezeguet, currently three goals ahead of Mbappe on the all-time French scoring charts, had just 16 goals at the age Mbappe is now.
With his starting appearance against Denmark, Mbappe also became the most capped France player in PSG's history, having made 56 appearances since joining the perennial French champions. Blaise Matuidi formerly held the record with 55 France caps as a PSG player.
Already the highest France goalscorer in PSG's history, Mbappe has further entrenched his position with his goals against Denmark.
Mbappe has been classed among the world's leading forwards for years now, but is on the verge of moving into an even more select group. He has already won one World Cup, as one of France's stars, but has begun this tournament as if out to prove that he is their brightest star.
His combination of remarkable speed and incisive movement would make him a threat in any team, but with Griezmann also in rare form, Mbappe has the perfect situation to plunder goals for fun.
Having announced himself by playing a starring role in Monaco's shock 2017 Ligue 1 title win, he then made a historic move to PSG for €180m.
Since making that move, he has scored 190 goals in 237 appearances while piling up domestic trophies.
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