Kylian Mbappe stood over the ball in New Jersey on Tuesday evening, the weight of a nation’s goalscoring history on his shoulders. Within minutes, he had rewritten it. The Real Madrid forward scored twice in France’s 3-1 World Cup opener against Senegal, taking his international tally to 58 and overtaking Olivier Giroud as Les Bleus’ all-time record scorer — at just 27 years old.
But his path to the record was not without controversy. Midway through the first half, Mbappe burst into the Senegal box and went down under contact from former Liverpool star Sadio Mane. Referee Alireza Faghani waved away the penalty appeals, then reviewed the incident on the pitchside monitor after a VAR intervention. He still refused to give the spot-kick, stunning BBC commentators.
“Kylian Mbappe, 27, becomes France's all-time top scorer with 58 goals, overtaking Olivier Giroud in a 3-1 World Cup win over Senegal.”
Giroud, working as a pundit on BBC One, was quick to pay tribute. “Congratulations Kylian,” he said. “I’m happy for him. It makes sense, it was expected. He will beat every single record — the number of caps and goals. I think he can easily reach 100 goals and maybe beat Miroslav Klose’s World Cup record.” Giroud added: “He knows where he wants to go, he is a leader. He was mature for his age. He is an incredible talent and a proper leader on and off the pitch.”
Mbappe’s 58 goals have come in just 99 appearances for France since his debut in March 2017. His first strike arrived in a 4-0 World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands. Now, with 14 World Cup goals, he sits just two behind Klose’s all-time tournament record of 16.
French football expert Julien Laurens believes Mbappe will become the country’s greatest ever player. “There is still a lot more to come from him,” Laurens said. “Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini remain the top two French players of all time. After that it is Mbappe ahead of Thierry Henry, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and others. It is not just for his goals, but his leadership now as captain. I predict him to be number one by the end of his career. He has at least one more World Cup and the Euros to play in.”
Arsenal defender William Saliba, who played a key role in the victory, also weighed in with a prediction about France’s prospects as they aim to go one better than their 2022 final defeat. For now, though, the night belonged to Mbappe — the man who, as Giroud put it, “will beat every single record.”