Kylian Mbappe had just pulled level with Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top scorer, but the glint in his eye revealed far more than the impressive finish. The French superstar whipped his head back towards a gleeful Michael Olise, grinning after the through ball that had just sliced Senegal open and banished a testing start to the World Cup 2026 for Les Bleus.
It sent France on their way to a 3-1 victory in New York, an imperfect performance but one that confirmed perhaps the deadliest combination in world football right now. Olise, on his World Cup debut, had drifted to the right, exchanged passes with Jules Kounde and assessed the French options buzzing around the Senegalese area. The Bayern Munich star placed a magnificent pass into a channel for Mbappe to surge onto. Merely redirecting the ball without adding any more power, Mbappe beat a sprawling Edouard Mendy to send Les Bleus on their way.
“Michael Olise assisted Kylian Mbappe as France beat Senegal 3-1 in New York to start their World Cup 2026 campaign.”
Bradley Barcola struck France’s second before Mbappe added a thumping finish from range to move past Giroud as France’s top goalscorer with 58 goals, and beyond Just Fontaine (14) for most World Cup goals by a Frenchman. Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 is likely to go in the coming weeks.
Despite a wealth of experience in Didier Deschamps’ ranks, as Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue completed France’s Fab Four, the former Crystal Palace forward Olise stands tall on football’s grandest stage. Mbappe’s partner in crime, the duo could resemble Romario and Bebeto’s combination that inspired Brazil’s triumph at USA 1994. A teammate willing to harness Mbappe’s express pace, Olise married vision and the most exquisite weight of pass to take over this Group I game.
“It's what he does off the ball, he’s a dream for a manager,” Thierry Henry, his coach with the French Olympic team, said.
The noise had swirled around Mbappe in the build-up to this tournament; an opportunity for the 27-year-old to forget a turbulent season at Real Madrid and complete a meteoric rise as arguably the greatest World Cup player ahead of Pele already, should he in fact win two titles and feature across three consecutive finals. His brace in New York only underlines that trajectory.