France forward Kylian Mbappe overtook Cristiano Ronaldo and equalled Lionel Messi’s World Cup tally of nine goals with a brace in the 3-1 win over Poland in the round of 16 clash of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on Sunday.
The 23-year-old equalled Portugal’s Ronaldo’s record of eight World Cup goals with a strike in the 74th minute. In the first minute of added time, he scored another to overtake Ronaldo and match Argentina skipper Messi’s tally.
Mbappe had scored four goals in his debut World Cup campaign in 2018 when France won the title in Russia. His first goal against Peru in that tournament made him the youngest French goalscorer in World Cup history at the age of 19 years.
At the ongoing edition, the Paris Saint-Germain forward has passed his tally of four goals from four years ago, taking him to the top of the leaderboard for the Golden Boot.
Mbappe is also the first-ever French player to score four or more goals at multiple World Cups. At 23 years and 349 days, he is also the youngest player since Brazilian legend Pele (at 17 years 249 days in 1958) to score five goals in the World Cup knockout stages.
Mbappe opened his account in Qatar with a goal in the first group match against Australia. He followed it with a brace to lead defending champion to a 2-1 win over Denmark second group match and confirm a spot in the round of 16. In the final group stage fixture which France lost 0-1 to Tunisia, Mbappe was brought onto the pitch as a substitute by coach Didier Deschamps in the 63rd minute.
Get all the results for the FIFA World Cup 2022 here: Full list of all matches, scores, results, goalscorers
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