Kylian Mbappé continued his relentless assault on the FIFA World Cup record books on Tuesday night, scoring twice as France thrashed Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 32 to set several historic milestones. The Real Madrid striker became the all-time leader in goals scored in the knockout stages of the World Cup, climbed to second position in the competition’s all-time ranking by surpassing Miroslav Klose, and moved within one goal of Lionel Messi’s overall record. France’s comprehensive victory at the New York New Jersey Stadium also secured a round of 16 meeting with Paraguay after Didier Deschamps’ side produced one of their most complete performances of the tournament. Bradley Barcola added the other goal, but the evening ultimately belonged to Mbappé, whose remarkable consistency on football’s biggest stage continues to redefine World Cup history.
Mbappé is just like the knockout king of the World Cup
The discovery came just before half time and showed precisely why Mbappé has become one of the most feared players in international football. Collecting possession on the edge of Sweden’s penalty area, he jumped past his marker with a sharp cross before driving a clinical finish past the goalkeeper in the 45th minute. The striker immediately sprinted towards the French technical area to celebrate with Deschamps, who had returned to the sideline after missing France’s last group game following the death of his mother. Barcola doubled France’s lead eight minutes into the second half before Mbappé completed his brace in the 74th minute, calmly finishing another fluent French move to remove any lingering doubts about the result. Deschamps later bowed respectfully to his star star when Mbappé was substituted in the 85th minute after another match-winning display. Those two endings carried enormous historical significance. Mbappé’s first goal took him to nine World Cup goals, breaking a long-standing tie with Brazil’s Leônidas and Ronaldo Nazári, Leônidas set it in 1938 against Sweden, and Ronaldo matched it in 2006 against Ghana. The joint Brazilian record stood for 20 years before Mbappé surpassed it, before he added a second to reach 10 and move clear at the top. Those elimination goals came in three tournaments. He scored three during France’s victorious 2018 campaign, including a brace against Argentina in the Round of 16 and another goal in the final against Croatia. Four years later in Qatar, he added five more, with two against Poland before his unforgettable hat-trick against Argentina in the final. His brace against Sweden has now extended that extraordinary total to 10 goals in just nine World Cup knockout appearances.
He is quickly closing in on Messi’s overall World Cup record
The brace also reshaped another prestigious classifier. Mbappé entered the match level with Miroslav Klose on 16 career goals in the World Cup. Scoring twice, he moved to 18 career World Cup goals, surpassing the former Germany striker and establishing himself as the second-highest goalscorer in the tournament’s history. Only Lionel Messi now remains ahead. The captain of Argentina has 19 goals in the World Cup, meaning that Mbappé has trailed him by a single strike. Remarkably, the French striker has reached 18 goals in just 18 World Cup appearances across three tournaments, while Messi needs 29 games in six World Cups to reach the same milestone. The breed remains very much alive. Both players have scored six goals during the 2026 tournament and are tied together near the top of the Golden Boot rankings, although Mbappé currently leads the race on the competition’s tiebreak criteria. Ahead of the tournament, Messi became the first player to score against 13 different nations at the World Cup as he extended his overall tournament record, but Mbappé quickly closed the gap with another extraordinary knockout performance. His 18 World Cup goals are distributed in three editions: four in Russia in 2018, eight in Qatar in 2022, and six already during the ongoing 2026 tournament. This summer alone, he struck twice against Senegal, added another brace against Iraq during the group stage, went clean against Norway and then produced his decisive brace against Sweden.
France continues its charge towards another World Cup
Mbappé was quick to focus on collective achievement rather than his individual accolades. “I am very aware of who I am, how I play, what I will do, but it is not just for me,” Mbappé said through a translator. “The whole team is aware of what needs to be done. It’s a new competition that started today. We played well, but we were shy. We could have done better at the beginning.” France have certainly grown in the competition after an even opening period. They finished with 61 percent possession, attempted 25 shots, including 13 on target, completed passes at 91 percent accuracy, won nine corners, and limited Sweden to just eight attempts, only three of which Mike Maignan tried. The clean sheet also extended France’s impressive run of scoring at least twice in seven consecutive World Cup matches, dating back to the 2022 tournament. The 3-0 victory represented France’s biggest World Cup victory since they defeated Brazil by the same scoreline in the 1998 final. The Bleus now travel to Philadelphia to face Paraguay on July 4, with the winners advancing to a quarter-final against Canada or Morocco in Foxborough five days later. For Mbappé, however, another opportunity awaits now. With just one goal separating Messi’s all-time World Cup record, and the knockout stages just beginning, another chapter in football history could be written before the tournament in France ends.