Latest Mbappe goal makes him first player to score at least 8 at multiple World Cup finals
Current World Cup is also first in history in which two players have scored at least eight goals in the same tournament
France’s star striker Kylian Mbappe has become the first player in history to score at least eight goals in two Fifa World Cup finals after guiding his team into the semi-finals for the third straight tournament on Thursday.
The Real Madrid frontman missed a first-half penalty before finding the net for his eighth goal of the current tournament, leading France to a comfortable 2-0 win over Morocco, and also assisted on Ousmane Dembélé’s goal just minutes later.
Mbappé also scored eight goals at the 2022 tournament and four in 2018.
Before the 2026 World Cup, only eight players had scored at least eight goals in one tournament, with Just Fontaine, Sándor Kocsis and Gerd Müller topping the chart with 13, 11 and 10 goals, respectively.
This is also the first time in World Cup history that two players, Mbappé and Lionel Messi, have scored at least eight goals in the same tournament. The Argentina captain has played one match fewer to date, with the South American team due to face Switzerland in their quarter-final on Saturday.
Chinese social media users were quick to heap praise on Mbappé, calling him a talented and gifted player, and expected him to continue setting more records.