It has been a reality since July 14: Kylian Mbappé and the Blues will not win a third star for France at the end of this 2026 World Cup. Dryly beaten in the semi-final by Spain (0-2), the French lost again, this time in spectacular fashion, against England at the end of a completely unbridled small final (4-6), Saturday July 18 in Miami.
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But despite this new setback for Didier Deschamps’ last match at the head of the Blues and an inevitably disappointing fourth place, the French captain left through the front door, taking care of his statistics and further shaping his legend in the history of the World Cup.
Author of his ninth and tenth goals against the Three Lions, the Blues striker moved back ahead of Lionel Messi (8 goals) in the scorers rankings for this edition, and also becoming the best scorer in the history of the World Cup (22 goals)… While of course waiting for the grand final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday evening in New York. A final opportunity for Messi (21 goals) to take the lead for his last World Cup played with the Albiceleste.
Olise already in history
Already winner of the Golden Shoe in 2022 in Qatar, the Real Madrid striker is well on his way to succeeding himself, barring an exploit from the Argentinian genius against La Roja at the close of the World Cup. A possibility mentioned by Mbappé himself after the match against England: “Leo Messi scores all the time, tomorrow he will score,” he predicted with a smile.
FindThe ranking of scorers and passers
“I just try to help my team, to score every time. It’s certain that when you score so many goals in the World Cup, it makes you evolve in certain areas. But I would have liked not to be the top scorer in history and play tomorrow’s match”, conceded the best striker of the Blues.
Another French player also made history, for his very first World Cup played with the French team. Author of seven assists in the United States, Michael Olise has already largely consolidated his position as the best passer of this edition with three points ahead of Lionel Messi, the Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes, the Moroccan Brahim Diaz and the Norwegian Martin Odegaard… and Kylian Mbappé!
Olise also broke the record for assists in a single edition held by none other than the Brazilian Pelé (6 in 1970), since assists began to be counted from 1966. In any case, there is now only one match left, certainly the most beautiful of all, for Lionel Messi to regain his throne in the history of the World Cup.
